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A    TRACT    FOR    THE  TIMES. 


THE 


ANXIOUS  BENCH, 


PR0FE33OR  OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  SEMINARY  OF"  THE  GER.  RE*'.  CIVJR': 


SECOND  EDITION, 
REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


Tkkel. — Daniel  v.  27. 


CHAMBERSBURG,  Pa» 

PRINTED  A.T  THE  PUBLICATION  OFFICE  O?  THE  GERMAN   REF.  CaW.C&., 


1844. 


PREFACE. 


In  coming  before  the  public  with  a  Second  edition 
of  the  Anxious  Bench,  it  seems  proper  to  introduce 
it  with  a  short  Preface. 

The  publication,  as  was  to  be  expected,  has  pro- 
duced considerable  excitement.  At  least  half  a  dozen 
of  replies  to  it,  shorter  or  longer,  have  been  announced 
in  different  quarters,  proceeding  from  no  less  than  five 
different  religious  denominations.  Various  assaults,  in 
addition  to  this,  have  been  made  upon  ii,  from  the  pul- 
pit ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  innumerable  reproaches  it 
has  been  required  to  suffer,  in  a  more  private  way. 

All  this  however,  calls  for  no  very  special  notice, 
in  return.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  of  all  the  publish- 
ed replies  to  the  tract,  which  have  come  under  my 
observation,  not  one  is  entitled  to  any  respect,  as  an 
honest  and  intelligent  argument  on  the  other  side.  In 
no  case,  has  the  question  at  issue  been  fairly  accept- 
ed and  candidly  met.  I  do  not  feel  myself  required 
at  all  then,  to  enter  into  a  formal  vindication  of  the 
tract,  as  assailed  in  those  publications.  I  consider  it 
to  be  in  itself,  a  full  and  triumphant  answer  to  all 
they  contaiti  against  it,  in  the  way  of  objection  or  re- 
proach. If  permitted  to  speak  for  itself,  by  being  se- 
riously and  attentively  read,  it  may  safely  be  left  to 
plead  its  own  cause.  In  such  circumstances,  it  would 
be  idle  to  enter  into  a  controversial  review  of  the  man- 
ifold misrepresentations,  to  which  it  has  been  subject- 
ed. The  only  proper  reply  to  them,  is  a  republica- 
tion of  the  tract  itself. 


PREFACE. 


With  the  reproaches  that  have  been  showei^d  upon 
me  personally,  indifferent  quarters,  I  have  not  slU  ^ 
lowed  myself  to  be  much  disturbed.  I  had  looked  for 
it  all  beforehand  ;  knowing  well  the  spirit  of  the  sys- 
tem, with  which  I  was  called  to  deal.  I  knew  of 
course,  that  I  should  be  calumniated  as  an  enemy  to 
revivals,  and  an  opposer  of  vital  godliness.  But  1 
felt  satisfied  at  the  same  time,  that  the  calumny  would 
in  due  season  correct  itself,  and  recoil  with  disgrace 
on  the  heads  of  those  from  whom  it  ml^t  proceed. 
It  has  begun  to  do  so  already,  and  will  jfeontinue  to 
do  so,  no  doubt,  more  and  more. 

Some  have  wondered,  that  I  did  nc^^  take  more 
pains  to  define  my  position  with  regard  fo  revivals, 
by  writing  a  chapter  on  the  subject,  so,^  io  cut  off 
occasion  for  the  reproach  now  mentioned*  But  this 
would  have  been,  in  some  measure  to  jus^fy  and  in- 
vite the  wrong,  which  it  was  proposed  "to  prevent. 
There  is  gross  insolence  in  the  assumption,  that  a 
man  should  at  all  need  to  vindicate  himself  in  this 
way,  in  venturing  to  speak  against  the  system  of 
New  Measures.  And  then,  it  is  not  by  formal  pro- 
testations, when  all  is  di^ne,  that  the  point,  in  any  such 
case,  can  be  fully  settled.  A  chapter  on  revivals  would 
be  of  little  account  in  my  tract,  if  my  own  character, 
and  the  whole  spirit  of  the  tract  itself,  were  not  such 
as  to  show  an  honest  zeal  in  favor  of  serious  religion. 
The  publications  which  have  come  out  in  reply  to  it, 
all  affect  an  extraordinary  interest  in  the  subject  of 
revivals,  exhibited  often  with  a  very  blustering  air;  but 
in  the  case  of  some  of  them,  this  pretension  is  utterly 
belied,  to  all  who  have  the  least  amount  of  Spiritual 
discernment,  by  the  tone  of  feeling  with  which  they 
are  characterised  throughout.  They  carry  in  them 
no  savor  at  all  of  the  wisdom,  thatcometh  from  above. 


PREFACE;.  V 

whatever  with  the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  remark  is  made  of  some  of  these  publications,  not 
of  the  whole  of  them  indiscriminately. 

Nor  would  any  special  protestation  in  favor  of  re- 
vivals be  of  much  account,  to  guard  the  tract  from 
being  perversely  used,  by  those  who  are  in  fact  op- 
posed to  this  precious  interest.  The  only  true  and 
pfoper  provision  against  such  abuse  must  be  found, 
ifit  exist  at  all,  in  the  general  spirit  of  the  tract  itself. 
Let  this  be  right,  and  it  must  be  considered  enough. 
It  may  be  perverted  still ;  but  men  can  pervert  the 
bible  too,  if  they  please. 

Fears  have  been  expressed,  that  in  the  present  po- 
sition of  the  German  Churches  particularly,  the  pub- 
lication may  operate  disastrously  upon  the  interests  of 
vital  godliness.  But  in  my  own  view,  there  is  no 
good  re^ason  for  any  such  fears,  I  believe  its  opera- 
tion has  been  salutary  already,  and  trust  it  will  be 
found  more  salutary  still,  in  time  to  come.  It  has 
engaged  attention  extensively  to  the  subject  of  which 
it  treats,  and  is  likely  to  go  farther  than  anything  that 
has  appeared  before,  in  correcting  the  confusion  and 
mystification,  in  which  it  has  been  so  unhappily  in- 
volved, in  certain  parts  of  the  country,  to  the  great 
prejudice  of  religion.  It  may  be  hoped  now,  that  the 
subject  of  New  Measures  will  be  so  examined  and  un- 
derstood, that  all  shall  come  to  make  a  proper  dis- 
tinction, between  the  system  of  the  Anxious  Bench, 
and  the  power  of  evangelical  godliness,  working  in  its 
true  forms.  In  the  case  of  the  German  Churches, 
this  would  be  a  result  of  the  very  highest  consequence. 
If  the  present  tract  may  open  the  way  for  its  accom- 
plishment, its  mission  will  be  one  in  which  all  the 
friends  of  true  religion  in  these  Churches  will  have 
occasion  to  rejoice. 


PREFACE. 


Bat  instead  of  lending  their  help  to  secure  tfiis  most 
desirable  object,  the  friends  of  the  Anxious  Bench 
seem  concerned,  to  maintain  as  long  as  possible  the 
very  mystification,  that  stands  in  its  way.  They  tell 
us,  we  must  not  speak  against  New  Measures,  be- 
cause this  term  is  made  to  include,  in  some  parts  of 
the  country,  revivals  and  other  kindred  interests : 
and  then,  when  we  propose  to  correct  this  gross  mis- 
take, by  proper  instruction,  they  set  themselves  with 
all  their  might  to  counteract  the  attempt,  and  insist 
that  the  people  shall  be  suffered  to  confound  these  dif- 
ferent forms  of  religion  as  before.  Those  who  act 
thus^  are  themselves  enemies  in  fact  to  the  cause  of 
revivals.  From  no  other  quarter,  has  it  been  made  to 
suffer  so  seriously.  Its  greatest  misfortune  is,  that  it  * 
should  lie  at  the  mercy  of  such  hands. 

It  is  with  a  very  bad  grace,  that  reference  is  made 
occasionally  by  some,  to  the  idea  of  a  foreign  spirit 
in  the  tract,  as  related  to  the  German  Churches.  It  ^ 
is  in  full  sympathy  with  the  true  life  of  these  Church- 
es,* as  it  stood  in  the  beginning.  The  charge  of  seek- 
ing to  force  a  foreign  spirit  on  them,  lies  with  clear 
right  against  the  other  side.  The  system  of  New 
Measures  has  no  affinity  whatever,  with  the  life  of  the 
Reformation,  as  embodied  in  the  Augshurgh  Confes- 
sion and  the  Heidelhergh  Catechism*  It  could  not 
have  found  any  favor  in  the  eyes  of  Zuingli  or  Calvin. . 
Luther  would  have  denounced  it,  in  the  most  unmer- 
ciful terms.  His  soul  was  too  largo,  too  deep,  too 
free,  to  hold  communion  with  a  style  of  religion  so 
mechanical  and  shallow.  Those  who  are  actively 
laboring  to  bring  the  Church  of  Luther,  in  this  coun-  ' 
try,  into  subjection  to  the  system,  cannot  be  said  to 
be  true  to  his  memory  or  name.  The  challenge, 
Why  are  you  a  Lutheran  ?  is  one  which  they  would 


PREFACE. 


do  weii*  seriously  to  consider.  It  is  most  certain,^, 
that  ihe  interest  they  are  pushing  forward,  in  this 
view,  is  not  Lutheranisrn,  in  any  sense  that  agrees 
with  the  true  historical  life  of  the  Church.  It  involves  a 
diiierent  theory  of  religion,  that  stands  in  no  fellow- 
ship with  the  views,  either  of  the  fathers  and  founders 
of  the  Church,  or  of  its  most  evangelical  representatives 
in  modern  Germany.  It  is  another  element  altogether 
that  surrounds  us,  in  the  writings  of  such  men  as 
Olshausen,  Tholuck,  Sartorius,  and  Neander.  The 
system  in  question,  is  in  its  principle  and  soul  neither 
Calvinism  nor  Lutheranisrn,  but  Wesleyan  Metho.- 
dism.  Those  who  are  urging  it  upon  the  old  German 
Churches,  are  in  fact  doing  as  much  as  they  can,  to 
turn  them  over  into  the  arms  of  Methodism.  This 
may  be  done,  without  any  change  of  denominational 
name.  Already  the  life  of  Methodism,  in  this  coun- 
try, is  actively  at  work  among  other  sects,  which 
own  no  fellowship  with  it  in  form.  So  in  the  present 
case,  names  may  continue  to  stand  as  before ;  but 
they  will  be  only  as  the  garnished  sepulchres  of  a 
glory,  that  belonged  to  other  days. 

But  is. not  Methodism.,  Christianity  ?  And  is  it  not 
better  that  the  German  Churches  should  rise  in  this, 
form,  than  not  rise  at  ail  ?  Most  certainly  so,  I  re-, 
ply,  if  that  be  the  only  alternative.  But  that  is  not 
the  only  alternative.  Their  resurrection  may  just  as 
well  take  place,  in  the  type  of  their  own  true,  origi- 
nal, glorious  life,  as  it  is  still  to  be  found  enshrined 
in  their  symbolical  books.  And  whatever  there  may 
be  that  is  good  in  Methodism,  this  life  of  the  Refor- 
mation I  affirm  to  be  immeasurably  more  excellent 
and  sound.  Wesley  was  a  small  man  as  compar- 
ed with  Melancthon.  Olshausen,  with  all  his  mysti- 
cism, i§  a  commentator  of  the  inmost  sanctuary  in 


vni 


PREFACE. 


comparison  with  Adam  Clark.  If  the  original,  dis- 
tinctive life  of  the  Churches  of  the  Reformation,  he 
not  the  object  to  be  reached^after,  in  the  efforts  that 
are  made  to  build  up  the  interests  of  German  Chris- 
tianity, in  this  country,  it  were  belter  to  say  so  at 
once  openly  and  plainly.  If  we  must  have  Methodism, 
let  us  have  it,  under  its  own  proper  title,  and  in  its 
own  proper  shape.  Why  keep  up  the  walls  of  de- 
nominational partition,  in  such  a  case,  with  no  dis- 
tinctive spiritual  being  to  uphold  or  protect  ?  A  sect 
without  a  soul,  has  no  right  to  live.  Zeal  for  a  sepa- 
rate denominational  name,  that  utters  no  separate  re- 
ligious idea^  is  the  very  essence  of  sectarian  bigotry 
and  schism. 

In  opposing  the  Anxious  Bench,  I  mean  no  disre- 
spect of  course  to  the  many  excellent  men,  in  different 
Churches,  who  have  given  it  their  countenance.  This 
has  been  done  by  some  of  the  best  ministers  in  the 
land,  for  whom  I  entertain  the  very  highest  regard. 
Not  a  few  are  to  be  found,  who  themselves  condemn 
their  own  former  judgment,  in  so  doing ;  which  does 
not  imply  surely  any  want  of  proper  self-respect. 
The  system  of  the  Anxious  Bench,  in  its  full  develop- 
ment, is  one  which  these  persons  have  always  disap- 
proved ;  only  they  have  not  considered  this  particular 
measure  to  be  a  part  of  the  system.  That  this  should 
be  the  case  need  not  seem  strange  ;  for  in  the  view  of 
the  measure  here  taken,  it  is  supposed  to  be  in  its 
simple  form,  on  the  bright  side  of  this  system,  and 
close  upon  the  boundary  that  separates  it  from  the  ter- 
ritory of  truth.  The  tract  exhibits  the  measure  in 
this  view,  not  as  the  origin  of  the  system  historically, 
not  as  necessarily  conducting  in  all  cases  to  worse 
things  that  lie  beyond  ;  but  as  constitutionally,  involv- 
ing the  principle  of  those  worse  things,  under  the 


PREPACEc 


ix 


least  startling  form,  and  legitimately  opening  the  way 
for  their  introduction,  if  circumstances  should  permit. 
^  It  would  seem  to  show  the  correctness  of  this  view, 
that  while  the  answers  to  the  tract  protest  against  it, 
as  a  false  and  arbitrary  classification,  they  all  conform 
to  it  notwithstanding,  in  spite  of  themselves,  in  a 
praetical  way.  They  defend  the  use  of  the  bench  as 
the  Thermopylae  of  New  Measures;  and  their  argument, 
such  as  it  is,  has  just  as  much  force  to  justify  the  sys- 
tem in  full,  as  it  has  to  justify  this  measure  in  partic- 
ular. An  effort  is  made  indeed  to  mystify  the  subject, 
by  dragging  into  connection  with  it  interests  of  a  dif- 
ferent order  altogether  ;  but  still  it  is  plain  enough, 
that  this  is  done  with  violence,  and  the  controversy 
falls  back  always  in  the  end,  to  its  proper  limits. 

The  abuse  of  a  thing,  it  is  said,  is  no  argument 
against  its  proper  use  ;  and  therefore  the  object,  in  the 
present  case,  should  be  to  reform  and  regulate,  rather 
than  to  abolish.  To  this  I  reply,  the  whole  system 
contemplated  in  the  tract  is  an  abuse,  from  which  it 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  worship  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  the  cause  of  revivals,  should  be  res- 
cued. Belonging  as  it  does  to  this  system,  then,  and 
contributing  to  its  support,  the  Anxious  Bench  is  a 
nuisance,  that  can  never  be  fully  abated  except  by 
its  entire  removal.  Its  tendencies,  as  shown  in  the 
tract,  are  decidedly  bad,  without  any  compensation  of 
a  solid  kind.  It  may  be  used  with  moderation  ;  but 
it  will  stand  still  in  the  same  relation  to  the  system  it 
represents,  that  moderate  drinking  holds  to  intem- 
perance in  its  more  advanced  forms.  Popery  started, 
in  the  beginning,  under  forms  apparently  the  most  in- 
nocent and  safe.  What  might  seem  to  be,  for  in- 
stance, more  rational  and  becoming  than  the  sign  of 
the  cross^  as  used  by  christians,  on  all  occasions,  in 


X 


PREFACE. 


the  early  Church  7  And  yet,  when  thq  corruptions 
of  Rome  were  thrown  off  by  the  proteslant  world, 
in  the  16th  century,  this  and  other  similar  forms 
were  required  to  pass  away  with  the  geiieral  rpass. 
And  why  is  it  that  the  sign  of  the  cross,  as  once  used, 
is  now  counted  a  dangerous  superstition,  not  to  be 
permitted  among  prptestants  ?  Simply,  because  it 
falls  naturally  over  to  that  vast  system  of  abuses,  of, 
which  it  forms  a  part  in  the  Romish  Church.  Thus 
it  represents  that  system,  and  furnishes  a  specimen 
of  it  constitutionally,  under  the  most  plausible  shape. 
Such  is  the  position  of  the  Anxious  Bench,  as  a  par- 
ticular measure,  in  the  general  case  now  under  con-^ 
sideration.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  conceive  of  a  judicious 
and  salutary  use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross,  as  it  is  to 
conceive  of  a  judicious  and  salutary  use  of  the  anxious 
bench  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  at  all,  but  that  the  first 
has  been  owned  and  blessed  of  God  full  as  extensive- 
ly, to  say  the  least,  as  this  has  ever  been  the  case 
with  the  last. 

J.  W.  N. 

Mercersburg,  Jan»  1844. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Design  of  the  Tract — Occasion  for  inquiry, — Importance 
and  solemnity  of  the  suhjecf. 


It  is  proposed  to  institute  a  free  inquiry  into 
the  merits  of  the  Anxious  Bench,  as  it  has  been 
enUsted  extensively  of  late  years  in  the  service 
of  rehgion.  My  object  will  be  to  show,  that  the 
measure  is  adapted  to  obstruct  rather  than  to  pro- 
mote the  progress  of  true  godliness,  and  that  it 
deserves  to  be  discouraged  on  this  account. 

No  one  needs  to  be  informed  what  is  meant 
by  the  Anxious  Bench,  Its  nature  and  design 
have  come  to  be  as  familiar  to'  most  people,  as 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  Pulpit  itself  Even 
among  those  who  dislike  it,  there  are  few  per- 
hapSj  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity,  at  one 
time  or  another,  of  witnessing  its  operation^ 
while  all  are  well  acquainted  with  it  at  least  in 
the  way  of  description  and  report. 

It  will  be  understood,  that  the  Anxious  Bench 
is  made  to  stand,  in  this  case,  as  the  type  and 
representative  of  the  entire  system  of  what  are 
technically  denominated  in  our  day,  ''New  Mea- 
siires,^^  It  is  not  meant  by  this,  of  course,  that 
it  is  so  bound  to  the  system,  as  never  to  be  sepa- 


12  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


rated  from  other  parts  of  it,  in  actual  practice. 
It  may  be  in  use  where  no  new  measures  besides 
are  tolerated ;  and  it  is  possible,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  it  may  not  be  employed  by  some, 
who  in  other  respects  are  wholly  in  this  interest. 
But  still,  it  may  very  fairly  be  exhibited,  as  a 
type  of  the  system  at  large.  These  measures 
form  properly  a  system  ;  and  it  is  only  in  this 
view,  that  it  is  possible  to  estimate  rightly  their 
nature  and  character.  It  is  not  uncommon,  to 
class  with  them  things  of  a  different  nature  alto- 
gether ;  and  then  advantage  is  taken  of  the  con- 
fusion thus  produced,  to  evade  the  point  of  ob- 
jections urged  against  new  measures  in  the  pro- 
per sense.  This  however,  is  sophistry,  of  a 
very  shallow  order.  The  idea  of  New  Measures  ^ 
is  just  as  well  defined  in  itself,  and  as  generally 
intelligible,  in  the  American  Church,  as  the  idea 
of  popery,  methodism,  presbyterianism,  or  al- 
most anything  else  of  the  same  general  charac- 
ter that  might  be  named.  It  is  only  by  a  gross 
and  palpable  abuse,  that  some  wish  to  make  it 
include  the  best  things  in  the  Church.  New 
measures,  in  the  technical  modern  sense,  form 
a  particular  system,  involving  a  certain  theory 
of  religious  action,  and  characterised  by  a  dis- 
tinctive life,  which  is  by  no  means  difficult  to 
understand.  Of  this  system  the  Anxious  Bench 
is  a  proper  representative.  It  opens  the  way 
naturally  to  other  forms  of  aberration,  in  the 
same  direction,  and  may  be  regarded  in  this 
view,  as  the  threshhold  of  all  that  is  found  to 
follow,  quite  out  to  the  extreme  verge  of  fanati- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


13 


eism  and  rant.  The  measure  belongs  to  the  sys- 
tem, not  in  name  simply,  but  in  its  life  and  spirit. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  the  most  favorable  aspect, 
in  which  the  cause  of  New  Measures  can  be  pre- 
sented to  our  view.  The  simple  Anxious  Bench, 
as  it  is  often  used  in  a  sober  way,  is  the  most 
moderate  and  plausible  shape  the  system  can 
well  take.  If  this  then  be  found  unworthy  of 
confidence,  the  whole  system  will  be  shorn  of 
its  title  to  confidence,  at  the  same  time.  If  the 
Anxious  Bench  can  claim  no  indulgence,  it  must 
be  idle  to  put  in  a  plea  for  its  kindred  measures. 
All  beyond  this  is  only  something  worse. 

It  is  well  too,  that  we  can  thus  deal  with  our 
subject.  If  there  be  no  room,  as  some  pretend, 
for  treating  it  in  a  clear  and  satisfactory  way, 
under  the  title  of  New  Measures,  by  reason  of 
the  confusion  with  which  that  term  is  used,  it  is 
so  much  the  more  important  that  we  should  substi- 
tute the  particular  for  the  general ;  and  we  have 
reason  to  congratulate  ourselves,  on  finding  a 
single,  well  known  form  of  action,  that  can  be 
taken  fairly  as  the  representative  of  the  whole 
system.  In  this  way,  our  argument  will  not  be 
abstract  and  vague,  but  pointed  and  clear. 
Whatever  dust  it  might  be  contrived  to  raise, 
with  regard  to  the  proper  sense  of  the  term.  New 
Measures^  all  know  at  least  the  meaning  of  the 
Jinxious  Bench.  Here  then  we  have  a  tangi- 
ble, concrete  subject,  with  which  to  deal.  Let 
it  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  system  to  which  it 
belongs.  In  this  way,  the  system  is  character- 
ised and  distinguished.    It  includes  things  of  the 


14  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


same  general  constitution  and  spirit^  with  thfe 
Anxious  Bench.  In  trying  the  merits  of  this, 
we  try  at  the  same  time  all  these  kindred  prac- 
tices and  nothing  more.*  If  any  choose  to  in- 
corporate with  their  idea  of  New  Measures, 
things  of  a  different  constitution  and  spirit  en- 
tirely, it  cannot  be  helped.  But  they  can  have 
no  right  to  force  any  view  of  this  sort  upon  the 
present  argument.  Our  business  is  with  New 
Measures,  in  the  proper  sense  \  and  that  we 
may  not  seem  to  run  uncertainly,  or  beat  the  air, 
we  characterise  the  sytem  by  one  of  its  most 
familiar  exhibitions.  It  stands  before  us  in  the 
type  of  the  Anxious  Bench. 

Here  too  is  the  proper  point,  for  grappling 
with  the  heresy  of  New  Measures.  It  can  an- 
swer no  purpose  to  discountenance  the  system  in 
general,  if  we  lend  our  influence,  theoretically 
or  practically  to  uphold  a  measure,  forming  like 
this  a  legitimate  stepping  stone  to  all  the  system 
is  found  to  embrace.  No  satisfactory  line  can 
be  drawn  between  this  and  the  more  advanced 
forms  of  extravagance,  for  which  it  prepares  the 
way.    They  will  be  found  to  involve,  in  the  end, 

*  "How  can  the  import  of  this  measure  exhibit  the  charat- 
ter  of  protracted  meetings,  both  which  in  many  German 
churches  are  well  known  to  be  included  in  their  idea  of  New 
Measures?"  Luih.  Obs.  Nov.  17,  1843.  Of  a  truth,  it  may 
be  replied,  not  very  well ;  and  for  this  reason  precisely,  it 
is  made  to  stand  here  as  the  representative  of  the  system  to 
which  it  of  right  belongs,  that  every  body  may  be  able  at  once 
to  see  and  understand  that  prayer  meetings,  protracted  meet- 
ings, and  other  interests  of  the  same  tjomplexion,  come  not 
in  any  sense  within  the  scope  of  the  present  inquiry. 


I 

THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  15 


the  same  principle.  That  is  a  false  position 
therefore,  by  which  some  excellent  men  allow 
themselves  to  speak  freely  against  noise  and  dis- 
order and  bodily  exercises  in  public  worship, 
under  other  forms,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
Anxious  Bench  is  not  only  spared,  but  treated 
with  honor  and  confidence,  as  though  it  had 
come  to  form  part  of  the  accredited  and  regular 
service  of  God^s  House.  Men  who  occupy  this 
position,  may  preach  or  write  an  abundance  of 
wholesome  advice  on  the  subject  of  false  excite- 
ment in  religion ;  but  their  advice  is  not  likely  to 
carry  much  weight  with  it  in  the  end,  as  not  go- 
ing after  all  to  the  ground  of  the  error  against 
which  it  is  directed.  If  we  would  utter  an  intel- 
ligible  and  consistent  testimony  against  New 
Measures,  we  must  make  no  exception,  openly 
or  tacitly,  in  favor  of  the  Anxious  Bench.  Here 
precisely  is  the  proper  point,  at  which  to  grapple 
with  the  whole  system. 

There  is  occasion  for  the  inquiry  here  propos- 
ed. It  is  true  indeed,  that  throughout  a  large 
portion  of  the  country  the  Anxious  Bench,  after 
having  enjoyed  a  brief  reputation,  has  fallen  in- 
to discredit.  It  has  been  tried,  and  found  want- 
ing ;  and  it  might  have  been  trusted  that  this  ex- 
periment would  be  sufficient  to  drive  it  complete- 
ly out  of  use.  But  unfortunately  this  has  not 
been  the  case.  Over  a  wide  section  of  the  land, 
we  find  it  still  holding  its  ground,  without  any 
regard  to  the  disgrace  with  which  it  has  been 
overtaken  in  the  North  and  East.    Peculiar  cir- 


16 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


cumstances  have  conspired  to  promote  its  credit, 
on  this  field. 

It  is  within  the  range  particularly  of  the  Ger- 
man Churches,  that  a  new  life  may  be  said  to 
have  been  communicated  latterly  to  the  system 
of  New  Measures.  No  field  is  more  interesting 
at  this  time,  than  that  which  is  comprehended 
within  these  limits.  A  vast  moral  change  is  go- 
ing forward  upon  it,  involving  consequences 
that  no  man  can  properly  calculate.  From  vari- 
ous causes,  a  new  feeling  is  at  work  everywhere 
on  the  subject  of  religion.  As  usual,  the  old 
struggles  to  maintain  itself  in  opposition  to  the 
new,  and  a  strong  tendency  to  become  extreme 
is  created  on  both  sides.  The  general  mind  un- 
happily has  not  been  furnished  thus  far  with  pro- 
per protection  and  guidance,  in  the  way  of  full 
religious  teaching  ;  and  the  result  is  that  in  these 
interesting  circumstances  it  has  become  exposed 
more  or  less,  at  almost  every  point,  to  those  wild 
fanatical  influences,  which  in  this  country  are 
sure  to  come  in  like  a  desolating  flood  wherever 
they  can  find  room.  Upstart  sects  have  set 
themselves  to  take  possession  if  possible  of  the 
entire  field  in  this  way,  on  the  principle  that  the 
old  organizations  are  corrupt  and  deserve  to  be 
destroyed.  Their  reliance  of  course  in  tl^is  work 
of  reformation,  is  placed  largely  on  New  Meas- 
ures !  Thus  a  whole  Babel  of  extravagance 
has  been  let  loose  upon  the  community,  far  and 
wide,  in  the  name  of  religion,  one  sect  vieing 
with  another  in  the  measure  of  its  irregularities. 
In  these  circumstances,  it  has  not  been  easy  for 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  17 


the  friends  of  earnest  piety  always  in  the  regular 
churches,  to  abide  by  the  ancient  landmarks  of 
truth  and  order.  The  temptation  has  been 
strong  to  fall  in,  at  least  to  some  extent,  with 
the  tide  of  fanaticism,  as  the  only  way  of  mak- 
ing war  successfully  on  the  dead  formality  that 
stared  them  in  the  face  in  one  direction,  and  the 
only  way  of  counteracting  the  proselyting  zeal 
of  these  noisy  sects  in  the  other. 

This  and  other  considerations  have  had  the  ef- 
fect of  opening  the  way  for  the  use  of  New  Mea- 
sures, to  some  extent  in  the  German  Reformed 
Church,  and  to  a  much  greater  in  the  Lutheran. 
It  is  well  known  that  a  large  division  of  this  last 
denomination,  has  identified  itself  openly  and 
zealously  with  the  system,  both  in  doctrine  and 
practice.  The  Lutheran  Observer ,  which  has 
a  wide  circulation  and  great  influence,  has  lent 
all  its  authority  to  recommend  and  support  the 
Anxious  Bench  with  its  accompaniments,  tak- 
ing every  occasion  to  speak  in  its  favor  and 
making  continually  the  most  of  its  results.  The 
"revivals'^  of  the  Church  latterly  have  been  very 
generally  carried  forward  with  the  use  of  New 
Measures,  as  may  be  perceived  from  the  reports 
of  them  published  from  time  to  time  in  the  Ob- 
server. *The  great  awakening  of  last  winter, 
pronounced  by  the  editor  of  that  paper  to  have 
been  probably  the  greatest  since  the  days  of  the 
Apostles,  seems  almost  everywhere  to  have  in- 
volved the  free  use  of  this  method.  Thus  min- 
isters and  congregations  have  become  extensive- 
ly committed  in  its  favor ;  so  that  with  many 
2 


18  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


the  use  of  the  Anxious  Bench,  and  a  zeal  for  evan- 
gehcal  godUness,  are  considered  to  be  very  much 
the  same  thing.  It  might  seem  indeed  as  though 
all  the  interests  ofrehgion,  in  the  case  of  the 
German  community,  were  to  the  view  of  a  large 
class,  suspended  on  the  triumphant  progress  of 
New  Measures.*  These  are  with  them  emphat- 
ically the  "great  power  of  God/'  which  may  be 
expected  to  turn  and  overturn,  till  old  things 
shall  fairly  pass  away  and  all  things  become 
new.  And  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  the 
system  bids  fair  at  present  to  go  on  conquering 
and  to  conquer,  in  its  own  style,  within  the 
limits  at  least  of  this  widely  extended  and  vene- 
rable denomination.  It  seems  to  bear  doAvn, 
more  and  more,  all  opposition.  It  has  become 
an  interest  too  strong,  to  be  resisted  or  controled. 
What  are  to  be  its  ultimate  issues  and  results, 
time  only  can  reveal. 

All  this  is  within  the  reach  of  the  most  com- 
mon observation.    And  no  one  reflecting  on  the 


*  "And  let  me  teil  you,  Sir,  that  whatever  Prof*  Nevin 
may,  (in  the  abstraction  of  his  study,)  have  v^'ritten  to  the 
contrary,  I  am  nevertheless  strong;ly  convinced,  as  a  pastor, 
that  the  so-called  'anxious  bench'  is  the  lever  of  Archimedes, 
VFhich  by  the  blessing  of  God  can  mise  our  German  Churches 
to  that  deq^ree  of  respectability  and  prosperity  in  the  religious 
world,  which  they  ought  to  enjoy.  Correspondence  of  the 
LuVu  Dbs.  Nov.  17.  1843. 

*'Such  measures  are  usually  inseparable  from  great  revivals, 
and  if  the  great  luminaries  in  the  Church  set  themselves  up 
against  them,  why  they  must  be  content  to  abide  the  conse- 
quences. By  the  judicious  use  of  such  measures,  the  mil- 
lenium  must  be  accelerated  and  introduced;  &c.'' — Luih^ 
Obs.  Jan.  26,  1844. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


19 


actual  state  of  things  at  this  time,  on  the  field 
occupied  by  the  German  Churches,  can  well 
fail  to  perceive,  that  there  is  full  occasion  for 
calling  attention  to  the  subject  which  it  is  here 
proposed  to  consider.  An  inquiry  into  the  mer- 
its of  the  Anxious  Bench,  and  the  system  to 
which  it  belongs,  is  not  only  seasonable  and  fit 
in  the  circumstances  of  the  time,  but  loudly  cal- 
led for  on  every  side.  It  is  no  small  question, 
that  is  involved  in  the  case.  The  bearing  of  it 
upon  the  interests  of  religion  in  the  German 
Churches,  is  of  fundamental  and  vital  importance. 
A  crisis  has  evidently  been  reached  in  the  histo- 
ry of  these  Churches  ;  and  one  of  the  most  seri- 
ous points  involved  in  it,  is  precisely  this  ques- 
tion of  New  Measures.  Let  this  system  prcA^ail 
and  rule  with  permanent  sway,  and  the  result 
of  the  religious  movement  which  is  now  in  pro- 
gress, will  be  something  widely  different  from 
what  it  would  have  been  under  other  auspices. 
The  old  regular  organizations,  if  they  continue 
to  exist  at  all,  will  not  be  the  same  Churches. 
Their  entire  complexion  and  history,  in  time  to 
come,  will  be  shaped  by  the  course  of  things 
with  regard  to  this  point.  In  this  view,  the" 
march  of  New  Measures  at  the  present  time, 
may  well  challenge  our  anxious  and  solemn  re- 
gard. It  is  an  interest  of  no  common  magnitude, 
portentous  in  its  aspect,  and  pregnant  with  con- 
sequences of  vast  account.  The  system  is  mov- 
ing forward  in  full  strength,  and  putting  forth 
its  pretensions  in  the  boldest  style  on  all  sides. 
Surely  we  have  a  right,  and  may  well  feel  it  a 


20  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


duty,  in  such  a  case,  to  institute  an  examination 
into  its  merits. 

Nor  is  it  any  reason  for  silence  in  the  case, 
that  we  may  have  suffered  as  yet  comparatively 
little  in  our  own  denomination,  from  the  use  of 
New  Measures.  We  may  congratulate  ourselves 
that  we  have  been  thus  favored,  and  that  the 
impression  seems  to  be  steadily  growing  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  encouraged  in  our  commu- 
nion. Still,  hnked  together  as  the  German 
Churches  are  throughout  the  land,  we  have  rea- 
son to  be  jealous  here  of  influences,  that  must  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  act  upon  us  from  without. 
In  such  circumstances  there  is  occasion,  and  at 
the  same  time  room,  for  consideration.  It  might 
answer  little  purpose  to  interpose  remonstrance 
or  inquiry,  if  the  rage  for  New  Measures  were 
fairly  let  loose,  as  a  sweeping  wind,  within  our 
borders.  It  were  idle  to  bespeak  attention  from 
the  rolling  whirlwind.  But  with  the  whirlwind 
in  full  view,  we  may  be  exhorted  reasonably 
to  consider  and  stand  back  from  its  destructive 
path.  We  are  not  yet  committed  to  the  cause 
of  New  Measures,  in  any  respect.  We  are  still 
free  to  reject  or  embrace  them,  as  the  interests 
of  the  Church,  on  calm  reflection,  may  be  found 
to  require.  In  such  circumstances  precisely,  may 
it  be  counted  in  all  respects  proper  to  subject  the 
system  to  a  serious  examination. 

It  has  been  sometimes  intimated,  that  it  is  not 
safe  to  oppose  and  condemn  the  use  of  New 
Measures,  because  of  their  connections  and  pur- 
pose.   Their  relation  to  the  cause  of  revivals,  is 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


supposed  to  invest  them  with  a  sort  of  sacred 
character,  which  the  friends  of  reUgion  should 
at  least  respect,  even  if  they  may  not  be  able  in 
all  cases,  to  approve.  The  system  has  taken 
hold  of  the  "horns  of  the  altar,^^  and  it  seems  to 
some  like  sacrilege  to  fall  upon  it  there,  or  to 
force  it  away  for  the  purposes  of  justice  to  any 
other  place.  It  is  a  serious  thing,  we  are  told, 
to  find  fault  with  any  movement,  that  claims  to 
be  animated  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  By  so  doing, 
we  render  it  questionable  whether  we  have  our- 
selves any  proper  sympathy  with  revivals,  and 
furnish  occasion  to  the  world  also  to  blaspheme 
and  oppose  everything  of  the  kind.  But  this  is 
tyrannical  enough,  to  take  for  granted  the  main 
point  in  dispute,  and  then  employ  it  as  a  consid- 
ation  to  repress  inquiry  or  to  silence  objection. 
If  New  Neasures  can  be  shown  to  proceed  from 
the  Holy  Ghost,  or  to  be  identified  in  any  view 
with  the  cause  of  revivals,  they  may  well  de- 
mand our  reverence  and  respect.  If  they  can 
be  shown  even  to  be  of  adiaphorous^  character 
with  regard  to  religion,  harmless  at  least  if  not 
positively  helpfui  to  the  Spirit's  work,  they  may 
then  put  in  a  reasonable  plea  to  be  tolerated  in 
silence,  if  not  absolutely  approved.  But  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  of  these  positions  can  be 
successfully  maintained.  It  is  a  mere  trick  un- 
worthy of  the  gospel,  for  any  one  to  confound 
with  the  sacred  idea  of  a  revival,  things  that  do 
not  belong  to  it  in  truth  at  all,  for  the  purpose 
of  compelling  a  judgment  in  their  favor.  The 
very  design  of  the  inquiry  now  proposed,  is  to 


22 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


show  that  the  Anxious  Bench,  and  the  system 
to  which  it  belongs,  have  no  claim  to  be  consid- 
ered either  salutary  or  safe,  in  the  service  of  re- 
ligion. It  is  believed,  that  instead  of  promoting 
the  cause  of  true  vital  godliness,  they  are  adapt- 
ed to  hinder  its  progress.  The  whole  system  is 
considered  to  be  full  of  peril,  for  the  most  pre- 
cious interests  of  the  Church.  And  why  then 
should  there  be  any  reserve,  in  treating  the  sub- 
ject with  such  freedom  as  it  may  seem  to  require  ? 
We  may  well  feel  indeed  that  the  subject  is  so- 
lemn. All  that  relates  to  the  interests  of  revi- 
vals, and  the  welfare  of  souls,  is  solemn;  and  it 
becomes  us  to  approach  it  in  a  serious  way. 
But  this  is  no  reason,  why  we  should  close  our 
eyes  against  the  truth,  or  refuse  to  call  things 
by  their  proper  names.  This  would  be  to  trifle 
with  sacred  things  truly. 

And  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  dan- 
ger against  which  we  need  to  be  warned  in  this 
case,  is  not  confined  by  any  means  to  one  side. 
It  is  a  serious  thing  to  profane  the  worship  of 
^  God,  by  offering  upon  his  altar  strange  fire. 
Those  who  recommend  and  practice  New  Meas- 
ures, should  see  well  to  it,  that  they  be  not 
themselves  chargeable  with  the  very  sin,  which 
they  are  too  prone  to  charge  upon  such  as  with- 
stand their  views.  It  is  surely  not  a  case,  in 
which  men  can  be  justified  in  taking  up  a  judg- 
ment lightly,  and  with  little  or  no  reflection. 
Mighty  interests  are  concerned  in  the  question, 
whether  such  means  should  be  employed  in  the 
service  of  God's  sanctuary  or  not.    A  great  re- 


THE  ANXIO  :S  BENCH.  23 


sponsibility  is  involved  in  urging  the  system  upon 
a  congregation,  or  in  trying  to  give  it  currency 
and  authority  in  a  reUgious  community.  If  it 
should  be  found  after  all,  to  be  not  the  wisdom 
and  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  but  the  fruit- 
ful source  of  error  and  confusion  in  religion,  an 
occasion  of  reproach  to  the  gospel  and  of  ruin  to 
the  souls  of  men,  it  would  be  a  heavy  account 
surely,  to  answer  for  any  part  taken  in  its 
favor. 

It  is  truly  strange,  how  onesided  the  patrons 
of  this  system  show  themselves,  as  a  general 
thing,  in  their  views  and  feelings  with  regard  to 
the  point  now  presented.  They  atfect  an  extra- 
ordinary interest  in  the  cause  of  revivals,  and 
seem  to  have  a  pious  dread  of  sinning  against  it 
in  any  way.  But  the  danger  of  doing  so,  is  all, 
to  their  view,  in  one  direction.  The  idea  of  op- 
posing the  work  of  God,  is  terrible.  Whatever 
claims  to  be  his  work  then,  must  be  respected 
and  reverenced.  No  matter  what  irregularities 
are  attached  to  it,  so  long  as  it  stands  before  us 
in  the  holy  garb  of  a  revival,  it  is  counted  un- 
safe to  call  it  to  account.  The  maxim.  Prove 
all  things,  must  be  discarded,  as  well  as  the 
•caution.  Believe  not  every  spirit.  No  room 
must  be  allowed  to  criticism,  where  the  object 
proposed  is  to  rescue  souls  from  hell.  To  stand 
upon  points  of  order  in  such  a  case,  is  to  clog 
the  chariot  wheels  of  salvation.  Meanwhile  the 
disastrous  consequences  of  false  excitement,  in 
the  name  of  religion,  are  entirely  overlooked. 
No  account  is  made  comparatively,  of  the  dan- 


24  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


ger  of  bringing  both  the  truth  and  power  of  God 
into  discredit,  by  countenancing  pretensions  ta 
the  name  of  a  revival  where  the  thing  itself  is 
not  present.  The  danger  itself  is  by  no  means 
imaginary.  Spurious  excitements  are  natural 
and  common.  Gross  irregularity  and  extrava- 
gance, carried  often  to  the  point  of  downright 
profanity,  are  actually  at  work,  in  connection 
with  such  excitements,  on  all  sides.  The  whole 
interest  of  revivals  is  endangered,  by  the  assump- 
tion impudently  put  forward,  that  these  revolt- 
ing excesses  belong  to  the  system.  False  and 
ruinous  views  of  religion,  are  widely  dissemina- 
ted. Thousands  of  souls  are  deceived  into  a 
false  hope.  Vast  obstructions  are  thrown  in  the 
way  of  true  godliness.  But  of  all  this,  no  ac- 
count is  made  by  those  who  are  so  sensitively 
jealous  of  danger  on  the  other  side.  The  only 
alternative  they  seem  to  see,  is  jlction  or  No^ 
action.  But  the  difference  between  right  action^ 
and  wrong  action,  one  would  think,  is  full  as 
important,  to  say  the  least,  as  the  difference  be- 
tween action  and  no  action. 

We  are  told  however,  that  the  term  "New 
Measures'^  is.  vague,  covering  in  the  view  of 
some  more  than  it  covers  in  the  view  of  others ; 
so  that  there  is  danger  of  encouraging  prejudice, 
and  opposition  against  tbe  best  things,  as  well 
as  the  worst,  in  venturing  to  criticise  and  cen- 
sure the  general  system.  In  the  German  com- 
munity in  particular,  it  is  well  known  that  great 
confusion  prevails  with  regard  to  the  subject,  in 
this  view.    With  many,  all  active  efforts  in  fa- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  25 

vor  of  serious  evangelical  piety,  are  branded 
with  the  reproach  of  new  measures.  Protracted 
meetings,  prayer  meetings,  the  doctrine  of  the 
new  birth,  special  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ners, revivals  in  the  true  and  proper  sense,  tract 
societies,  missionary  societies,  andbenevolentope- 
rations,  generally,  all  are  regarded  with  suspicion, 
or  it  may  be  actually  opposed,  as  belonging  to  the 
same  system  of  extravagance,  that  includes  the 
Anxious  Bench  and  its  natural  connections.  To 
oppose  the  latter  then,  we  are  told  is  virtually 
to  oppose  the  former.  People  will  not  distin- 
guish. By  exposing  the  nakedness  of  the  Anx- 
ious Bench,  we  must  expect  to  strengthen  the 
hands  of  those  who  cry  out  against  all  active  re- 
ligion. Better  to  be  silent,  than  to  incur  so  hea- 
vy a  responsibility.  Especially  at  this  juncture 
should  we  observe  such  sacred  caution,  it  is  in- 
timated, when  the  German  Churches  are  wak- 
ing from  the  sleep  of  years,  and  passing  the 
crisis  of  a  great  spiritual  revolution,  whose  con- 
sequences no  one  can  measure. 

Most  certainly,  in  such  circumstances,  caution 
does  become  us  all.  We  should  tremble,  to  touch 
the  ark  of  God  with  unhallowed  hand.  It  were 
only  to  be  wished,  that  this  might  be  seriously 
laid  to  heart,  by  the  champions  of  the  A  nxious 
Bench  themselves,  as  well  as  by  others. 

It  has  been  already  stated,  that  the  Anxious 
Bench  is  made  the  direct  object  of  regard  in  this 
tract,  rather  than  New  Measures  in  general,  for 
the  very  purpose  of  cutting  off  occasion,  as  much 
as  may  be,  from  those  who.  seek  occasion,  for 


26  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


confounding  in  this  way  things  that  are  entirely 
distinct.  The  particular  is  made  to  stand  for 
the  general,  in  the  way  of  specimen  or  type,  so 
as  to  exclude  all  that  is  not  of  the  same  complex- 
ion and  spirit.  If  any  choose  notwithstanding  to 
take  the  idea  of  New  Measures  in  a  wider  sense, 
they  have  a  right  to  please  themselves  in  so  do- 
ing, if  they  see  proper ;  but  they  can  have  no 
right  surely  to  obtrude  their  own  arbitrary  view 
on  the  present  discussion.  There  is  a  broad  dif- 
ference between  New  Measures  in  the  one  sense, 
and  New  Measures  in  the  other  sense.  It  is 
overbearing  impudence  to  pretend,  that  a 
protracted  meeting,  or  a  meeting  for  social 
prayer,  is  of  the  same  character  with  the  anxious 
bench,  or  the  various  devices  for  theatrical  ef- 
fect with  which  this  is  so  frequently  linked. 
Such  meetings  lie  in  the  very  conception  of 
Christian  worship,  and  are  as  old  as  the  Church. 
The  assertion  sometimes  heard,  that  the  idea  of 
protracted  meetings,  now  so  familiar  and  so 
generally  approved,  is  one  of  recent  origin,  for 
which  we  are  indebted  to  the  system  of  New 
Measures,  serves  only  to  expose  the  ignorance 
of  those  by  whom  it  is  made.  It  is  no  less  an 
abuse  of  terms,  as  well  as  of  common  sense,  to 
include  in  this  system  tract  societies,  the  cause 
of  missions,  and  the  benevolent  agencies  in  gen- 
eral, by  which  the  Church  is  endeavoring  to  dif- 
fuse the  knowledge  of  the  truth  throughout  the 
world.  All  these  things  are  natural,  direct  ut- 
terances of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  itself,  and 
have  no  affinity  whatever  with  the  order  of  ac- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


tion  represented  by  the  Anxious  Bench.  The 
same  thing  may  be  said  of  revivals.  They  are 
as  old  as  the  gospel  itself.  Special  effusions  of 
the  Spirit,  the  Church  has  a  right  to  expect  in 
every  age,  in  proportion  as  she  is  found  faithful 
to  God's  covenant;  and  where  such  effusions 
take  place,  an  extraordinary  use  of  the  ordinary 
means  of  grace  will  appear,  as  a  matter  of  course. 
But  still  a  revival  is  one  thing,  and  a  Phrygian 
dance  another ;  even  though  the  Phrygian  dance  \ 
should  be  baptized  into  Christian  Montanism. 
Life  implies  action,  but  all  action  is  not  life.  It 
is  sheer  impudence  to  say,  that  new  measures 
and  revival  measures  are  the  same  thing. 

And  there  is  good  reason  to  believe,  that  the 
confusion  which  is  said  to  prevail  with  regard  to 
the  whole  subject,  is  much  less  in  fact  than  is 
sometimes  represented.  As  a  general  thing,  peo- 
ple know  very  well  that  there  is  no  affinity  or 
connection,  betv\^een  the  system  represented  by 
the  Anxious  Bench,  and  such  evangelical  inter- 
ests as  have  now  been  mentioned.  Even  in 
those  sections,  where  it  has  been  found  conven- 
ient to  stretch  the  idea  of  New  Measures  over 
this  hallowed  territory,  there  is  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  state  of  the  case  probably  than 
is  often  supposed. 

But  allowing  the  confusion  to  be  as  complete, 
among  the  German  Churches,  as  it  is  represent- 
ed, shall  no  effort  be  made  to  correct  it,  and  put 
things  in  their  proper  light  ?  Admit  that  the 
best  practices,  and  most  important  interests,  are 
in  the  eyes  of  many  identified  with  the  system 


28  THE  ANXICUS  BENCH. 


of  New  Measures,  in  the  proper  sense,  so  that 
to  assault  the  latter  is  considered  an  assault  at 
the  same  time  upon  the  former;  still  is  that  a 
reason  for  sparing  and  sheltering  the  system,  un- 
der its  own  bad  form  ?  Is  there  no  help  for  the 
German  Churches,  in  this  predicament  ?  Must 
they  have  revivals,  in  the  way  of  the  Anxious 
Bench,  or  no  revivals  at  all  ?  Must  it  be  with 
^hem  Finneyism,  Methodism,  Winebrennerism, 
or  open  war  with  serious  religion,  and  the  spirit 
of  missions,  under  every  form  ?  Is  the  necessa- 
ry alternative,  in  their  case,  quackery  or  death  ? 
Rather,  in  these  circumstances,  it  becomes  a 
solemn  duty  to  take  the  difficulty  by  the  horns, 
and  reduce  it  to  its  proper  posture.  We  owe  it 
to  the  German  Churches,  not  to  suffer  things  so 
different,  in  a  case  of  such  vast  moment,  to  be 
so  deplorably  confounded.  The  case  is  one  that 
calls  loudly  for  light,  and  it  is  high  time  that 
light  should  be  extended  to  it  without  reserve. 
If  it  be  a  reigning  error,  to  involve  light  and 
darkness  in  this  way,  under  a  common  term,  in 
the  same  sweeping  censure,  that  is  not  a  reason 
surely  why  we  should  try  to  uphold  the  dark- 
ness for  the  sake  of  the  light,  but  a  sacred  re- 
quisition upon  us  rather,  to  insist  on  a  clear,  full 
discrimination  of  the  one  element  from  the  other. 
If  Finneyism  and  Winebrennerism,  the  anxious 
I)ench,  revival  machinery,  solemn  tricks  for  ef- 
fect, decision  displays  at  the  bidding  of  the 
preacher,  genuflections  and  prostrations  in  the 
aisle  or  around  the  altar,  noise  and  disorder,  ex- 
travagance and  rant,  mechanical  conversions^. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  29 


justification  by  feeling  rather  than  faith,  and  en- 
couragement Hiinistered  to  all  fanatical  impres- 
sions ;  if  these  things,  and  things  in  the  same 
line  indefinitely,  have  no  connection  in  fact  with 
true  serious  religion  and  the  cause  of  revivals, 
but  tend  only  lo  bring  them  into  discredit,  let 
the  fact  be  openly  proclaimed.  Only  in  this 
way,  may  it  be  hoped  that  the  reproach  put  up- 
on revivals  and  other  evangelical  interests  by 
some,  under  cover  of  their  pretended  connection 
with  this  system  of  New  Measures  in  the  true 
sense,  will  be  in  due  time  fairly  rolled  away. 

The  fact,  that  a  crisis  has  come  in  the  history 
of  the  German  Churches,  and  that  they  are  wak- 
ing to  the  consciousness  of  a  new  life  with  regard 
to  religion,  only  makes  it  the  more  important, 
that  this  subject  should  not  be  suffered  to  rest  in 
vague  confusion.  It  is  a  popish  maxim,  by 
which  ignorance  is  made  to  be  the  mother  of  de- 
votion. We  say  rather.  Let  there  be  light. 
The  cause  of  the  Reformation  was  more  endan- 
gered by  its  own  carricature,  in  the  wild  fanati- 
cism of  the  Annabaptists,  than  by  all  the  opposi- 
tion of  Rome.  Luther  saved  it,  not  by  truckling 
compromise,  but  by  boldly  facing  and  unmask- 
ing the  false  spirit,  so  that  all  the  world  might 
see,  that  Lutheran  Christianity  was  one  thing, 
and  wild  Phrygian  Montanism,  with  its  pretend- 
ed inspiration,  quite  another.  So  in  the  present 
crisis,  the  salvation  of  the  old  German  Churches 
in  this  country  is  to  be  accomplished,  not  by  en- 
couraging them  to  "believe  every  spirit,'^  but 
by  engaging  them,  if  possible,  to  "try  the  spir- 


30  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


its,  whether  they  be  of  God."  Let  things  that 
are  wrong  be  called  by  their  right  names,  and 
separated  from  things  that  are  right. 

A  heavy  responsibility,  in  this  case,  rests  up- 
on the  friends  of  New  Measures.  The  circula- 
tion of  spurious  coin,  in  the  name  of  money, 
brings  the  genuine  currency  into  discredit.  So 
also  the  surest  way  to  create  and  cherish  preju- 
dice against  true  piety,  is  to  identify  it  with 
counterfeit  pretences  to  its  name.  Popery,  in 
popish  countries,  is  the  fruitful  source  of  infidel- 
ity.' So  in  the  case  before  us,  it  is  sufficiently 
clear,  that  the  zeal  which  the  sticklers  for  the 
system  of  the  Anxious  Bench  display,  in  pres- 
sing their  irregularities  on  the  Church  as  a  ne- 
cessary part  of  the  life  and  power  of  Christiani- 
ty, is  doing  more  at  present  than  any  other 
cause,  to  promote  the  unhappy  prejudice  that  is^ 
found  to  prevail,  in  certain  quarters,  against 
this  interest  in  its  true  form.  Many  are  led  hon- 
estly to  confound  the  one  order  of  things  with 
the  other ;  and  still  more,  no  doubt,  willingly 
accept  the  opportunity  thus  furnished,  to  strength- 
en themselves  in  their  opposition  to  evangelical 
interests,  under  a  plausible  plea,  against  their 
own  better  knowledge.  In  either  case,  we  see 
the  mischievous  force  of  the  false  issue,  which  the 
question  of  New  Measures  has  been  made  to  in- 
volve. The  Anxious  Bench,  and  its  kindred 
extravagances,  may  beheld  justly  responsible  for 
a  vast  amount  of  evil,  in  this  view.  As  a  carri- 
cature  always  wrongs  the  original  it  is  made 
falsely  to  represent,  so  has  this  spurious  system,. 


31 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


officiously  usurping  a  name  and  place  not  pro-- 
perly  its  own,  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to 
bring  serious  religion  itself  into  discredit,  obscu- 
ring its  true  form,  and  inviting  towards  it  pre- 
judices that  might  otherwise  have  had  no  place. 
It  has  much  to  answer  for,  in  the  occasion  it  has 
given,  and  is  giving  still,  for  the  name  of  God 
to  be  blasphemed,  and  the  sacred  cause  of  revi- 
vals to  be  vilified  and  opposed,.  ^ 


CHAPTER  II. 

TAe  merits  of  the  Anxious  Bench  not  to  he  measured  by  Us 
popularity;  nor  by  its  seeming  success, —  Circumstan^ 
ces  in  which  it  is  found  to  prevail. — No  spiritual  force 
required  to  give  it  effect. 


The  Popularity  o{  the  Anxious  Bench  proves 
nothing  in  its  favor.*  We  find  it,  to  be  sure, 
extensively  in  vogue,  and  with  a  large  portion 
of  the  community  in  high  honor.  There  are 
whole  sects  that  seem  to  have  no  conception  of 
any  thing  like  a  vigorous  life  in  the  Church, 

*  "It  proves  nothing  against  it,"  we  are  told  from  the  other 
side.  The  lemarkis  most  true  ;  but  most  foreign  at  the  same 
time  from  the  point,  so  far  as  the  position  of  the  tract  is  con- 
cerned. The  object  of  this  chapter  is,  not  to  present  any  pos- 
itive argument  against  the  Bench,  but  simply  to  undermine 
certain  presumptions  in  its  favor,  which  are  known  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  a  calm  and  dispassionate  consideration  of  its 
merits,  as  afterwards  examined.  The  argument  here  isnega* 
tivey  not  positive.  The  patrons  of  the  system,  it  is  plain, 
make  much  account  of  its  popularity,  of  the  success  with 
which  it  seems  to  be  attended,  and  of  the  power  it  is  supposed 
to  manifest  on  the  part  of  those  who  can  use  it  with  effect. 
In  the  present  chapter,  it  is  attempted  to  showsimply,  that 
popularity  and  apparent  success  prove  nothing,  and  that  the 
measure  is  of  such  a  character  as  to  call  for  no  particular  mor- 
al force  to  ^^,ive  it  effect.  In  the  following  chapter,  the  argu- 
ment becomes  positivey  showing  that  there  is  actual  weakness 
and  quackery  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  system. 


TllE  ANXIOUS  BENCft.  33 


Without  its  presence.  And  beyond  the  range  of 
these,  scores  of  ministers  and  congregations  are 
found,  who  glory  in  it  as  the  very  "gate  of  hea- 
ven/^ and  consider  it  no  less  essential  than  the 
pulpit  itself  to  the  progress  of  any  considerable 
revival.  During  the  last  winter,  as  already 
mentioned,  there  were  places,  where  the  spirit 
of  the  Anxious  Bench  might  be  said  to  carry  all 
before  it ;  and  it  is  likely  it  will  be  so  again,  dur- 
ing the  winter  that  is  to  come. 

But  all  who  are  at  all  acquainted  with  the 
world,  know,  that  the  worst  things  may  thus 
run  for  a  season  and  be  glorified,  in  the  popular 
mind.  And  especially  is  this  the  case,  where 
they  hold  their  existence  in  the  element  of  ex- 
citement, and  connect  themselves  with  religion, 
the  deepest  and  most  universal  of  all  human  in- 
terests. No  weight  of  fashion  enlisted  in  favor 
of  the  Anxious  Bench  can  deserve  to  be  much 
respected,  in  such  a  trial  of  its  merits  as  we  are 
here  called  to  make. 

It  should  be  remembered  however,  that  this 
popularity,  such  as  it  is,  is  in  a  certain  sense  but 
the  echo  of  a  sound  which  has  already  ceased  to 
be  heard.  Whatever  may  be  the  pretensions  of 
the  Anxious  Bench,  on  the  field  we  are  now 
contemplating,  it  is  after  all  a  stale  interest,  so  far 
as  the  Church  at  large  is  concerned.  Not  many 
years  since,  it  stood  in  very  considerable  credit 
in  different  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  over  a  large  portion  of  New  England.  But 
on  this  ground,  the  thing  has  fairly  exploded. 
It  has  been  tried  and  found  wanting.  Here  and 
3 


M  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


there,  it  may  still  be  held  in  honor.  But  in  a 
general  view,  even  those  who  were  formerly  its 
friends  have  come  to  look  upon  it  with  distrust, 
and  are  no  longer  willing,  to  give  it  their  counte- 
nance. As  with  general  consent,  throughout 
New  England  and  New  York,  the  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  Churches  have  abandon- 
ed the  use  of  the  Anxious  Bench  for  "a  more 
excellent  way."*  With  all  its  popularity  then 
where  it  now  prevails,  it  is  after  all  a  stale  in- 
terest, worn  threadbare  and  flung  aside,  in  a 
different  quarter  of  the  religious  world.  In  these 
circumstances,  no>  great  ajccount  is  to  be  made  of 
its  present  credit,  in  any  view. 

Nothing  can  be  argued  again  in  favor  of  the 


*  This  has  been  contradicted;  with  more  courage  however, 
than  wisdom.  It  is  notorious  to  all  who  know  anything  about 
the  subject,  that  the  system  of  New  Measures,  in  the  sense 
of  the  present  tract,  as  represented  some  years  since  in  the 
North  by  such  men  as  Blarichard  and  Finney,  has  latterly 
fallen  into  discredit  and  general  disuse,  throughout  the  Congre- 
gational and  Presbyterian  Churches.  They  still  cherish  oi' 
course  prayer  meetings,  protracted  meetings,  and  revivals  ; 
and  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  number  of  ministers  may  still 
have  recourse  to  the  anxious  bench,  as  a  particular  measure, 
at  certain  times ;  but  the  system,  to  which  this-  measure  of 
Fight  belongs,,  is  no  longer  in  vogue.  By  general  consent, 
the  churches  have  fallen  back  upon  the  evangelical  method, 
to  which  the  use  of  the  anxious  bench  can  adhere  only  as  an 
accident,  if  it  adhere  at  all.  The  revivals  of  last  winter,  in  the 
North,  according  to  the  testiTiony  furnished  concerning  them 
in  the  New  York  Observer,  were  of  a  wholly  different  stamp, 
from  those  of  Mr.  Finney's  school,  in  former  years.  These 
last  had  strength  ;  but  it  was  such  as  a  wasting  fever  imparts^ 
to  a  sick  man,  opening  the  way  for  a  long  prostration  after- 
wards. The  revivals  of  the  past  winter,  it  may  be  trusted ^ 
have  been  the  first  fruits  only  of  the  quiet  and  enduring  vigor, 
that  springs  from  renovated  health. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  35 


Anxious  Bench,  from  the  Success,  with  which 
it  may  appear  to  be  employed  in  the  service  of 
reUgion.  This  is  often  appealed  to  for  this  pur- 
pose. We  are  referred  triumphantly  to  the  ac- 
tual results  of  the  system^  as  tried  in  different 
places.  We  are  told  of  hundreds  awakened  and 
converted  in  connection  with  its  use.  God,  it  is 
said,  has  owned  it,  and  impressed  his  seal  upon 
it,  by  working  through  it  mightily  as  a  means  of 
salvation;  and  if  he  choose  to  honor  it  in  this  way, 
who  are  we  that  we  should  find  fault  or  con- 
demn We  should  rejoice  to  see  souls  brought 
into  the  kingdom,  in  any  way.  We  should  be 
willing  to  make  room,  in  such  a  case,  for  the 
manifold  grace  of  God,  allowing  it  to  have  free 
course  in  any  channel  through  which  it  is  found 
to  flow,  and  not  seeking  to  force  it  into  conform- 
ity with  our  own  narrow  views.  All  this  car- 
ries with  it  a  plausible  sound.  But  after  all,  the 
representatian  is  entitled  to  no  respect. 

In  the  first  place,  to  draw  an  argument  for 
the  Anxious  Bench  from  its  immediate  visible 
effects,  is  to  take  for  granted  that  these  are  worth 
all  they  claim  to  be  worth.  We  are  pointed  to- 
powerful  awakenings,  of  which  it  is  considered 
to>  be  the  very  soul.  We  are  referred  to  scores 
and  hundreds  of  conversions,  effected  directly  or 


*  "  Who  can  behold  a  congregation  of  christians  wrestling 
for  an  altar-full  of  penitent,  anxious  sinners,  and  witness  the 
success  of  such  instrumentality,  and  say,  this  is  ignorance  or 
fanaticism  ?  God  blesses  only  one  way,  which  is  the  right 
way  ;  he  has  blessed  this  way,  therefore  it  is  the  right  way.** 
—Correspondence  of  the  Luth'  Observer ,  Feb.  17,  1843, 


3S  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 

indirectly  by  its  means.  But  who  shall  assure 
us,  that  all  this  deserves  to  be  regarded  with 
confidence,  as  the  genuine  fruit  of  religion  ?  It 
is  marvellous  credulity,  to  take  every  excitement 
in  the  name  of  religion,  for  the  work  of  God^s 
Spirit.  It  is  an  enormous  demand  on  our  charity, 
when  we  are  asked  to  accept  in  mass,  as  true 
and  solid,  the  wholesale  conversions  that  are 
made  in  this  way.  It  will  soon  be  made  to  ap- 
pear, that  there  is  the  greatest  reason  for  cau- 
tion and  distrust,  with  regard  to  this  point.  No 
doubt  the  use  of  the  Anxious  Bench  may  be 
found  associated,  in  certain  cases,  with  revivals, 
the  fruits  of  which  are  worthy  of  all  confidence. 
But  this  character  they  will  have,  through  the 
force  of  a  different  system,  that  would  have  been 
just  as  complete  without  any  such  accompani- 
ment. In  such  cases,  the  revival  may  be  said 
to  prevail,  in  spite  of  the  new  measures  with  which 
it  is  encumbered.  On  the  other  hand,  in  pro- 
portion as  the  spirit  of  such  measures  is  found  to 
animate  and  rule  the  occasion,  there  will  be  rea- 
son to  regard  the  whole  course  of  things  with 
doubt.  One  thing  is  most  certain.  Spurious  re- 
vivals are  common,  and  as  the  fruit  of  them, 
false  conversions  lamentably  abound.  An  Anx- 
ious Bench  may  be  crowded,  where  no  divine 
influence  whatever  is  felt.  A  whole  congrega- 
tion may  be  moved  with  excitement,  and  yet  be 
losing  at  the  very  time  more  than  is  gained  in  a 
religious  point  of  view.  Hundreds  may  be  car- 
ried /Arot/^A  the  process  of  anxious  bench  con- 
version, and  yet  their  last  sfate  may  be  worse 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  37 


than  the  first.  It  will  not  do  to  point  us  to  im- 
mediate visible  effects,  to  appearances  on  the 
spot,  or  to  glowing  reports  struck  off  from  some 
heated  imagination  immediately  after.  Piles  of 
copper,  fresh  from  the  mint,  are  after  all  some- 
thing very  different  from  piles  of  gold. 

Again,  it  does  not  follow  by  any  means  that 
a  thing  is  right  and  good,  because  it  may  be 
made  subservient  occasionally,  in  the  hands  of 
God,  to  a  good  end.  Allow  that  the  system  re- 
presented by  the  Anxious  Bench,  has  often  had 
the  effect  of  bringing  souls  by  a  true  and  saving 
change  to  Christ,  and  still  it  may  deserve  to  be 
opposed  and  banished  from  the  Church.  God 
can  cause  the  wrath  and  folly  of  man  both  to 
praise  him,  in  such  ways  as  to  himself  may  seem 
best.  And  so,  under  the  influence  af  his  Spirit, 
he  can  make  almost  any  occasion  subservient  to 
the  awakening  and  conversian  of  a  soul.  But 
it  would  be  wretched  logic,  to  infer  from  this 
the  propriety  of  employing  every  such  occasion, 
with  preparation  and  design,  as  a  part  of  the 
regular  work  of  the  gospel.  It  is  sometimes 
said  indeed,  that  if  only  some  souls  are  saved 
by  the  use  of  new  measures,  we  ought  thankful- 
ly to  own  their  power,  and  give  them  our  coun- 
tenance ;  since  even  one  soul  is  worth  more  than 
a  world.  But  it  should  be  remembered,  that 
the  salvation  of  a  sinner  may  notwithstanding 
cost  too  much  !  If  truth  and  righteousnefs  are 
made  to  suffer  for  the  purpose,  more  is  lost  than 
won  by  the  result.  We  must  not  do  wrongs 
even  to  gain  a  soul  for  heaven.    And  if  for  one 


38  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


thus  gained,  ten  should  be  virtually  destroyed, 
by  the  very  process  employed  to  reach  the  point, 
who  will  say  that  such  a  method  of  promoting 
Christianity  would  deserve  to  be  approved? 
There  may  be  movements  in  the  name  of  reh- 
gion,  and  under  the  form  of  religion,  and  yield- 
ing to  some  extent  the  fruits  of  religion,  which 
after  all  come  from  beneath  and  not  from  above. 
The  history  of  the  Church  is  full  of  instances, 
illustrating  the  truth  of  this  remark. 

Simeon,  the  Stylite,  distinguished  himself,  in 
the  fifth  century,  by  taking  his  station  on  the 
top  of  a  pillar,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  ben- 
efit of  his  own  soul.  This  whimsical  discipline 
he  continued  to  observe  for  thirty  seven  years. 
Meanwhile  he  became  an  object  of  wide-spread 
veneration.  Vast  crowds  came  from  a  distance 
to  gaze  upon  him,  and  hear  him  preach.  The 
measure  took  with  the  people  wonderfully. 
Thousands  of  heathen  were  converted,  and  bap- 
tized by  his  hand.  Among  these,  it  may  be 
charitably  trusted  were  some,  whose  conversion 
was  inward  and  solid.  God  made  use  of  Sime- 
on^s  Pillar,  to  bring  them  to  himself  The  seal 
of  his  approbation  might  seem  to  have  rested 
upon  it,  to  an  extraordinary  extent.  No  wonder 
the  device  became  popular.  The  quackery  of 
the  Pillar  took  possession  of  the  Eastern  world, 
and  stood  for  centuries  a  monument  of  the  folly 
that  gave  it  birth.  We  laugh  at  it  now  ;  and 
yet  it  seemed  a  good  thing  in  its  time,  and  car- 
ried with  it  a  weight  of  popularity  such  as  no 
New  Measure  can  boast  of  in  the  present  day. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


39 


But  why  speak  of  Stylitism  in  particular  ? 
"The  whole  system  of  monkery  may  be  taken  as 
an  example,  of  the  same  force,  on  a  larger  scale. 
What  a  world  of  abominations  has  it  not  been 
found  to  embrace  ?  And  yet,  under  what  plau- 
sible pretences,  it  sought  the  confidence  of  the 
Church,  in  the  beginning !  There  were  not 
wanting  powerful  reasons,  to  give  it  recommen- 
dation. The  whole  Christian  world  in  fact  fell 
into  the  snare.  The  interest  became  a  torrent, 
before  which  no  man  was  found  able  to  stand. 
Most  assuredly  too,  there  was  the  life  and  pow- 
er of  reUgion,  to  some  extent,  at  woi*k  in  the 
movement.  Monkery  was  to  many  in  fact  the 
means  of  conversion  and  salvation.  And  to  this 
hour  an  argument  might  be  framed  in  its  favor, 
under  this  view,  not  less  plausible,  to  say  the 
least,  than  any  that  can  be  presented  for  the 
'Use  of  the  Anxious  Bench. 

The  Romish  Church  has  always  delighted  in 
arrangements  and  services,  animated  with  the 
same  false  spirit.  In  her  penitential  system,  all 
pains  have  been  taken  to  produce  effect  by 
means  of  outward  postures  and  dress,  till  in  the 
<3nd,  amid  the  solemn  mummery,  no'  room  has 
been  left  for  genuine  penitence  at  all.  Yet  not 
a  ceremony  was  ever  introduced  into  the  system, 
that  did  not  seem  to  be  recommended  by  some 
sound  religious  reason  at  the  time.  The  same 
thing  may  be  said  of  the  Services  of  that  Church 
generally. 

In  another  sphere,  look  at  Millerism,  The 
error,  as  it  has  been  zealously  preached  within 


4Q>  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 

the  past  year,  has  no  doubt  had  an  awakening 
effect  on  the,  minds  of  many ;  and  some  it  may 
be  trusted,  have  been  actually  conducted  by 
means  of  it  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  will 
a,ny  pretend  to  say  that  it  deserves  to  be  encour-. 
aged  on  this  account  ?  It  is  said  indeed,  that  such 
an  idea  has  been  occasionally  thrown  out.  Only, 
however,  where  the  judgment  had  been  in  some 
measure  corrupted  by  the  spirit  of  quackery  pre- 
viously at  work.  No  m,orally  sane  mind  could 
be  willing  for  a  moment,  to-  patronize  such  a 
lie,  on  account  of  any  apparen,tly  salutary  effects, 
it  might  be  found  to  have  in  particular  cases. 

Let  us  not  be  told  then,  that  the  Anxiou^; 
Bench  is  a  godly  interest,  because  naany  seem 
to  be  convicted  by  its  n^eans,  and  some  are  con- 
verted in  fact.  AH  this  naay  be,  and  the  gener- 
al operation  of  the  system  remain  notwithstand- 
ing intrinsically  and  perm,anently  bad. 

As  a  general  thing,  the  mtovement  af  coming 
to  the  Anxious  Bench,  gives  no  proper  repre-. 
sentatian  of  the  religious  feeling  that  may  be  ac- 
tually at  work  in  the  congregation,  at  the  time. 
It  is  always  more  or  less  theatrical,  and  aften^ 
has  no  other  character  whatever.  A  sernion 
usually  goes  before.  But  frequently  this  has  no. 
felt  relation  at  all  to  the  subsequent  excitement,, 
so  far  as  its  actual  cantents  are  concerned.  The 
writer  was  present,  not  a  great  while  ago,  as  a 
stranger,  in  a  church,  where  a  preacher  of  some 
little  note  in  coimection  with  the  subject  of  revi- 
vals, had  been  introduced,  under  the  expecta-. 
t^ioA  and  hope,  that  something  of  the  kind  might 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


41 


be  secured,  at  the  time,  by  his  instmmentaUty . 
The  congregation  had  but  little  appearance  of 
life  at  the  beginning,  and  still  less  as  the  sermon 
drew  tpwards  a  close.  The  truth  is,  it  was  a 
very  dull  discourse,  at  the  best.  The  preach- 
er was  not  well,  and  altogether  he  failed 
to  make  the  least  impression  on  the  great  body  . 
of  his  audience.  A  number  were  fairly  asleep, 
and  others  were  bordering  on  the  same  state. 
The  preacher  saw  and  felt,  that  he  had  preach- 
ed without  effect ;  and  took  occasion,  after  the 
sermon  was  properly  ended,  to  express  his  re« 
gret  in  view  of  the  fact,  and  to  add  a  few  vale- 
dictory remarks  in  the  prospect  of  his  leaving 
the  place  the  next  day,  without  any  thought  evi- 
dently of  calling  out  the  anxious,  where  not  a 
trace  of  feeling  had  been  discerned.  But  the 
new  strain  adapted  at  the  close,  served  to  rouse 
attention  and  create  interest.  The  congregation 
put  on  a  moxe  wakeful  aspect,  and  something 
like  entation  could  be  perceived  in  the  counte- 
nances of  a  few.  The  preacher  took  courage,  and 
after  a  few  minutes  dared  to  try  the  Anxious 
Bench.  As  usual,  the  hymn  was  started.  Come 
humble  sinner ,  <5'c._^  and  carried  through,  with 
pauses,  in  which  siimers  present  were  urged 
and  pressed  to  seek  their  salvation  by  coming 
forward.  Soon  a  female  was.  seen  going  to 
the  place,  then  another,  and  another ;  till  at 
last  a  whole  seat  was  filled.  One  old  lady  rose, 
and  moved  around,  trying  to  induce  others  to 
go  forward.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  I  re- 
tired, wondering  within  myself  that  educated 


4*2  THE  Al^XIOTJS  BENCH. 

men,  as  were  both  the  preacher  in  this  case  and 
the  pastor  at  his  side,  could  so  impose  upon 
themselves,  as  to  attach  any  importance  to  such 
a  demonstration,  in  such  circumstances.  "  It  was 
atternpted  to  caxry  forward  the  work,  by  an  ap- 
pointment for  the  next  evening.  But  on  coming 
together  at  the  time,  it  was  found  that  it  loould 
not  go  forward,  and  so  it  was  dropped  altogeth- 
er. 

Commonly  indeed,  those  who  deal  in  the  anx- 
ious seat,  rely  far  less  upon  the  presentation  of 
truth  to  the  understanding,  than  they  do  upon 
other  influences,  to  bring  persons  forward. 
§  Pains  are  taken  rather  to  raise  the  imagination, 
and  confound  the  judgment.  Exciting  appeals 
are  made  to  the  principle  of  fear.  Advantage  is 
taken  in  every  way  of  the  senses  and  nerves. 
Especially  the  mysterious  force  of  sympathy  is 
enlisted  in  support  of  the  measure,  and  made  to 
tell  in  many  cases  with  immense  effect. 

As  might  be  expected  accordingly,  the  most 
favorable  subjects  for  the  operation  of  the  sys- 
tem, are  persons  in  whom  feelings  prevail  over 
judgment,  and  who  are  swayed  by  impulse 
more  than  reflection.  In  an  enlightened,  well  in- 
structed congregation,  the  anxious  bench  can 
never  be  generally  popular.  Where  it  is  in  full 
favor,  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  are 
brought  out  by  it,  are  females  and  persons  who 
are  quite  young.*    It  often  happens  that  the 


*  "Females  and  persons  who  are  quite  .youn^  have  souls  to 
ibe  saved,  as  well  as  males  and  persons  who  are  advanced  in 


THE  AKXIOtJS  BENCH.  43 


"*»bench^^  is  filled  altogether  with  such  cases,  the 
greater  part  of  them  perhaps  mere  girls  and  boys. 
So  where  a  community  is  characterisedby  a  gener- 
al ignorance  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  true  re- 
ligion, the  measure  is  frequently  applied  with 
great  eifect ;  and  those  precisely  who  are  the 
most  rude  and  uncultivated,  are  the  most  likely 
in  such  circumstances  to  come  under  its  power. 

It  requires  then  no  spiritual  power  to  use  the 
Anxious  Bench  with  effect.  To  preach  the 
truth  effectually,  a  man  must  have  a  certain 
spiritual  force  in  himself,  which  others  are  made 
to  feel.  But  nothing  of  this  sort  is  needed,  to  se- 
cure success  here.  The  object  sought  is  a  mere 
outward  demonstration  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
which  may  be  gained  by  other  forms  of  influ- 
ence, just  as  well.  It  shows  no  inward  power 
whatever,  to  be  able  to  move  a  congregation  in 
this  way.  It  can  be  done  without  eloquence, 
and  calls  for  no  particular  earnestness  or  depth 


life;  nay  *merf»  ^irls  and  boys'  have  an  eternal  interest  pend^ 
ing/'—Luih.  Obs.  Dec.  29,  1843. 

"And  was  not  woman  last  at  the  cross,  and  first  at  the  tomb 
of  the  Son  of  God  V— Davis'  Plea.  p.  45. 
*'Low  and  jejune  indeed  must  be  the  conception  of  a  religion, 
which  can  allow  a  divine  to  atteinpt  to  destroy  a  "measure," 
through  which  ^'females,  girls  and  hoys,''  run  to,  as  a  means 
to  enable  them  to  flee  the  wrath  to  come." — Denig's  Stric- 
tures ^  p.  26. 

What  a  coincidence  of  judgment,  among  the  critics  of  the 
tract,  at  this  point !  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  relevancy 
and  honesty  of  the  criticism  itselt,  in  view  of  the  passage  thus 
censured,  as  it  actually  stands,  and  taken  in  its  plain  sense? 
This  is  a  fair  specimen  however,  of  a  large  part  of  all  that  has 
bfien  argued  against  the  tract,  in  these  publications. 


44  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


of  thought.  It  is  truly  wonderful  iiideedj  with 
how  little  qualification  of  intellect  and  soul  a  man; 
may  be  fitted  to  carry  all  before  him  at  certain, 
times,  and  to  show  himself  ofi"  to  the  eyes  of  a 
bewitched  multitude  as  "the  great  power  of 
God/'  by  having  recourse  to  new  measures. 
He  may  be  vulgar,  coarse  and  dull,  and  so 
pointless  and  sapless  in  his  ordinary  pulpit  servi- 
ces, that  it  will  be  a  weariness  to  hear  him  ;  and 
yet  you  shall  find  him,  from  time  to  time,  throw- 
ing a  whole  community  into  excitement,  gather- 
ing around  him  crowded  houses  night  after  night, 
and  exercising  as  it  might  seem,  for  the  space  of 
three  or  four  weeks,  an  irresistible  sway,  in 
favor  of  religion.  Such  cases  are  by  no  means 
uncommon.  Some  of  the  most  successful  prac- 
titioners in  the  art  of  the  Anxious  Bench  show 
themselves  lamentably  defective  in  the  power  of 
serious  godliness,  as  well  as  in  mental  cultiva- 
tion generally.  The  general  habit  of  their  lives 
is  worldly  and  vain,  and  their  religion,  apart 
from  the  occasional  whirlwinds  of  excitement  in 
which  they  are  allowed  to  figure  in  their  favorite 
way,  may  be  said  to  be  characteristically  super- 
ficial and  cold.  Nay,  the  evidence  may  be  pal- 
pable, that  religion  has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with 
the  system,  in  cases  where  it  is  employed  with 
the  greatest  apparent  effect.  Nothing  is  more 
common,  than  for  those  even  who  glory  in  the 
power  of  the  Anxious  Bench,  as  employed  with- 
in their  own  communion,  to  look  with  entire 
distrust  on  its  results  as  exhibited  in  the  practice 
of  other  sects.    What  is  trumpeted  in  the  one  case 


ITHE  AKXIOtJS  BENCa. 


46 


-as  a  glorious  revival,  is  allowed  to  pass  in  the 
other  without  notice  as  at  best  a  questionable 
excitement.  In  this  way  it  is  practically  ac- 
knowledged, that  the  system  does  not  necessari- 
ly involve  spiritual  power.  It  can  be  made  to 
work  as  well  in  connection  with  error,  as  in  con- 
nection with  truth.  It  is  as  fully  at  the  service 
of  quackery  and  imposture,  as  it  can  be  available 
in  the  cause  of  genuine  religion.  It  is  well 
adapted  indeed  to  become  the  sport  of  quacks, 
under  every  name.  All  wild  and  fanatical  sects 
employ  it,  with  equal  success.  OampbelUtes, 
Winebrennerians,  and  Universalists,  show  the 
same  power,  when  necessary,  in  producing  re- 
vivals under  this  form.  Millerism  and  Mor- 
monism,  it  may  be  added,  are  just  as  capable 
of  doing  wonders  in  the  same  way  ;  though  the 
last  has  declared  itself  not  favorable  to  the  Anx- 
ious Bench,  as  interfering  with  regular  and  ra- 
tional worship. 

Nothing  can  be  more  precarious  then,  than 
the  argument  for  this  system,  as  drawn  from  its 
apparent  effects  and  results.  In  the  sphere  of 
religion,  as  indeed  in  the  world  of  hfe  generally, 
the  outward  can  have  no  value,  except  as  it 
stands  continually  in  the  power  of  the  inward. 
To  estimate  the  force  of  appearances,  we  must 
try  their  moral  constitution  ;  and  this  always  in- 
volves a  reference  to  the  source,  from  which 
they  spring.  A  miracle,  in  the  true  sense,  is 
not  simply  a  prodigy,  nakedly  and  separately 
considered.  It  must  include  a  certain  moral 
character.    Especially  there  must  be  inward 


46  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


freedom  and  divine  strength  in  the  persony 
from  whom  it  proceeds.  No  wonder-worMs 
could  authenticate  the  mission  of  a  man  pre- 
tending to  come  from  God,  who  should  display- 
in  all  his  movements  an  inward  habit  at  war 
with  the  idea  of  religion.  And  just  as  little  are 
we  bound  to  respect,  ia  the  present  case,  the 
mere  show  of  force,  without  regard  to  the  agen- 
cy by  which  it  is  exhibited.  Those  who  deal 
in  the  Anxious  Bench  are  accustomed  to  please 
themselves  with  the  idea,  that  it  is  an  argument 
of  power  on  the  part  of  their  ministry,  to  be 
able  in  this  way  to  produce  a  great  outward  efr 
feet.*  This  is  considered  sufficient,  it  might 
seem,  apart  from  the  personality  of  the  preacher 
altogether,  to  authenticate  his  strength.  But  no 
judgment  can  be  more  superficial.  The  person- 
ality of  the  preacher,  must  ever  condition  and 
determine  the  character  of  his  work.  It  were 
easy  to  give  a  score  of  living  examples,  in  which 
the  semblance  of  success  on  a  large  scale,  in  the 
use  of  this  system  at  the  present  time,  is  at  once 
belied  by  palpable  defect  here.  The  men  are  of 
such  a  spirit,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  confide  in- 

♦  "Who  ever  dreamed,  that  a  single  invitation  to  penitents 
to  come  forward,  and  a  personal  conversation  wrth  them  orr 
their  spiritual  condition  and  duties- demanded  uncommon' in- 
ward spiritual  force?"  Thus  the  editor  of  the  Luth.  Obs. 
Nov.  17,  1848,  mystifying  the  point  as  usual.  His  colleague 
of  Pittsburg  however,  comes  up  boldly  to  the  mark.  **A 
quack  may  preach  a  sermon  and  make  a  long  prayer,"  he 
tells  us  ;  ^'but  it  takes  something  more  than  a  Quack,-  so  to 
preach  the  truth  that  sinners  immediately  come  forward' 
to  the  anx'ous  bench."— Davis' P/ea,  p.  32.  Right  braveljf 
spoken  ;  but  the  very  dialect  of  Quackdom  itself. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCK, 


47 


telligently  in  any  results  it  may  seem  to  reach,, 
by  tlieir  ministry.  We  are  authorised  before 
all  examination,  to  pronounce  them  valueless 
and  vain.  So  utterly  weak,  in  this  argument, 
is  the  appeal  to  facts^  as  managed  frequently 
by  superficial  thinkers.  In  every  view  of  the 
ease,  the  fruits  of  the  Anxious  Bench  must  be 
received  with  great  caution,  while  to  a  great 
extent  they  are  entitled  to  no  confidence  what- 
ever. 


CHAPTER  ill. 


Jsfature  of  Quackery^ — To  rely  on  forms  Or  measiires  skotus 
inward  weakness, — «iVeu>  Measures^*  a  substitute  for 
true  strength,—-  Where  they  are  in  honor y  ample  space  is 
found  for  novices  and  quacks. 


It  has  been  shown,  that  the  successful  use  of 
the  Anxious  Bench  calls  for  no  spiritual  power. 
It  is  within  the  reach  of  fanaticism  and  error,  to 
be  employed  in  their  service,  with  as  much  fa- 
cility as  it  may  be  enlisted  in  the  service  of  truth. 
It  is  no  argument  of  strength,  as  is  often  imagin- 
ed, that  a  preacher  is  able  to  use  such  an  agen^ 
icy  with  effect.  I  now  go  a  step  farther  and  pro^ 
nounce  it  an  argument  of  spiritual  weakness, 
that  he  should  find  it  either  necessary  or  desira^ 
ble  to  call  in  such  help.  There  is  a  measure  of 
quackery  in  the  expedient,  which  always  im-^ 
plies  the  want  of  strength,  so  far  as  it  may  be 
relied  on  at  all,  as  being  of  material  account,  in 
carrying  on  the  work  ot  God.* 

*  It  has  been  found  convenient  with  some,  it  would  seem, 
to  misunderstand  what  is  said  of  spiritual  weakness  and  spir- 
itual strength,  in  this  part  of  Uie  tract.  They  affect  to  take 
it  as  having  respect  to  intellect,  learning,  eloquence,  &c.  ; 
as  though  it  implied^  that  men  of  ordinary  or  small  abilities 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  49 


Quackery  consists  in  pretension  to  an  inward 
virtue  or  power,  which  is  not  possessed  in  fact, 
on  the  ground  of  a  mere  show  of  the  strength 
which  such  power  or  virtue  is  supposed  to  in- 
ckide.  The  self-styled  physician,  who  without 
any  knowledge  of  the  human  frame,  undertakes 
to  cure  diseases  by  a  sovereign  panacea,  in  the 
shape  of  fluid,  powder,  or  pill,  is  a  quack  ;  and 
there  is  no  doubt  abundance  of  quackery  in  the 
medical  profession,  under  more  professional 
forms,  where  practice  is  conducted  without  any 
true  professional  insight  and  power.  Such  prac- 
tice may  at  times  seem  eminently  successful,  and 
yet  it  is  quackery  notwithstanding.  The  same 
false  show  of  power  may,  of  course,  come  into 
view  in  every  department  of  life.  It  makes  up 
in  fact  a  large  part  of  the  action  and  business  of 


are  entitled  to  no  respect  in  the  Church  ;  and  so  we  are  re- 
ferred to  Paul's  ^'Not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not  many 
mighty,  &c.  1  Cor.  i.  26-28,  as  a  scriptural  rebuke  upon 
every  such  judgment.  Thus  also  the  editor  of  the  Lutheran 
Observer,  Jan.  5,  1844,  lugs  in,  by  the  neck,  a  passage  to 
the  same  purpose  from  President  Edwards,  to  show  that  this 
"great  master-spirit  did  nt)t  look  upon  the  inward  weakness  of 
his  co-workers  as  a  matter  ot  reproach."  At  the  close  of  it, 
he  gravely  adds  :  "This  quotation  needs  no  comment  irom  us; 
it  speaks  for  itself.  All  we  ask  is  to  compare  it  with  Dr.  N's 
labored  effort  about  the  oft-repeated  "inward  weakness"  of 
revival  pieachers  in  the  present  day."  JVow  if  there  be  any- 
thing plain  in  the  whole  tract,  it  is  that  the  inward  weakness 
attributed  by  it,  not  to  revival  preachers,  but  to  such  as  glory 
in  the  system  of  the  Bench,  is  that  of  the  *'flesh"  mainly  as 
opposed  to  the  strength  which  is  from  God's  Spirit.  When  I 
am  weak,  says  Paul,  then  am  I  strong.  Quackery  affects  to 
be  strong,  but  is  weak  in  fact.  Its  weakness  does  not  stand 
in  the  measure  of  its  own  resources  fo  much,  as  in  its  separa* 
tion  from  the  ground  of  all  strength  in  God. 

4 


50 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


the  world.  Quack  lawyers,  quack  statesmen^ 
quack  scholars,  quack  teachers,  quack  gentle- 
men, quacks  in  a  word  of  every  name  and  shape, 
meet  us  plentifully  in  every  direction.  We  need 
not  be  surprised  then  to  find  the  evil  fully  at 
home  also  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  Indeed  it 
might  seem  to  be  more  at  home  here,  than  any 
where  else.  Here  especially  the  heart  of  man, 
"deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately  wick- 
ed,'' has  shown  itself  most  ingenious  in  all  ages, 
in  substituting  the  shadow  for  the  reality,  the 
form  for  the  substance,  the  outward  for  the  in- 
ward. The  religion  of  the  world  has  always 
been,  for  the  most  part,  arrant  quackery.  Pa- 
ganism can  exist  mider  no  other  form.  The 
mummery  of  Rome,  as  aping  powers  of  a  high- 
er order,  is  the  most  stupendous  system  of  quack- 
ery the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  But  quack- 
ery in  the  Church,  is  not  confined  of  course  to 
Rome.  Christianity,  in  its  very  nature,  must 
ever  act  on  the  corrupt  nature  of  man  as  a  pow- 
erful stimulus  to  the  evil.  No  system  embraces 
such  powers,  inward,  deep  and  everlasting. 
These,  man  would  fain  appropriate  and  make 
his  own,  in  an  external  way,  without  relinquish- 
ing himself,  and  entering  soul  and  body  that 
sphere  of  the  Spirit,  in  which  alone  they  can 
be  understood  and  felt.  So  Simon  Magus 
dreamed  of  purchasing  the  gift  of  God,  ajid 
clothing  himself  with  it  in  the  way  of  outward 
possession.  He  was  a  quack ;  the  prototype 
and  prince  of  evangelical  quacks.  The  second 
Century  shows  us  the  whole  Christian  world 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


51 


brilliantly  illuminated  with  rival  systems  of 
quackery,  under  the  name  of  Gnosticism,  which 
for  a  time  seemed  to  darken  the  sun  of  truth  it- 
self by  their  false  but  powerful  glare.  After- 
wards, under  a  less  idealistic  garb,  the  evil  fair- 
ly enthroned  itself  in  the  Church.  The  Refor- 
I  mation  was  the  resurrection  of  the  Truth  once 
more,  in  its  genuine  and  original  life.  Luther 
was  no  quack.  But  Protestantism  itself  soon 
had  its  quacks  again,  in  plentiful  profusion,  and 
has  them  alTthe  world  over  at  the  present  day. 
Christianity,  as  of  old,  serves  to  call  the  false 
spirit  continually  into  action.  Some  whole  sects 
stand  only  in  the  element  of  quackery.  And 
among  all  sects,  it  is  easy  to  find  the  same  ele- 
ment to  some  extent  actively  at  work ;  some- 
times under  one  form,  and  sometimes  under  an- 
other ;  but  always  exalting  the  outward  at  the 
cost  of  the  inward,  and  promising  in  the  power 
of  the  flesh  what  can  never  be  accomphshed  ex- 
cept in  the  power  of  the  spirit. 

Wherever  ybr/Ti^  in  religion  are  taken  to  be — 
we  will  not  say  the  spiritual  realities  themselves 
with  which  the  soul  is  concerned,  for  the  error 
in  that  shape  would  be  too  gross — but  the  power 
and  force  at  least  by  which  these  realities  are  to 
be  apprehended,  without  regard  to  their  own  in- 
visible virtue,  there  we  have  quackery  in  the 
full  sense  of  the  term.  Religion  must  have  forms , 
as  well  as  an  inward  living  force.  But  these 
can  have  no  value,  no  proper  reality,  except  as 
they  spring  perpetually  from  the  presence  of  that 
living  force  itself.    The  inward  must  be  the 


52 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


bearer  of  the  outward.  Quackery  however  re* 
verses  the  case.  The  outward  is  made  to  bear 
the  inward.  The  shrine,  consecrated  with  the 
proper  ceremonies,  must  become  a  shechinah. 
Forms  have  a  virtue  in  them,  to  bind  and  rule 
the  force  of  things.  Such  forms  may  be  exhibi- 
ted in  a  ritual,  or  in  a  creed,  or  in  a  scheme  of 
a  religious  experience  mechanically  apj)rehend-  ^ 
ed  ;  but  in  the  end,  the  case  is  substantially  the 
same.  It  is  quackery  in  the  garb  of  religion, 
without  its  inward  life  and  power. 

That  old  forms  are  liable  to  be  thus  abused, 
and  have  been  extensively  thus  abused  in  fact, 
is  easily  admitted.  But  it  is  not  always  recol- 
lected, that  new  forms  furnish  precisely  the  same 
opportunity  for  the  same  error.  It  is  marvel- 
lous indeed  how  far  this  seems  to  be  overlooked, 
by  the  zealous  advocates  of  the  system  of  New 
Measures,  in  our  own  day.  They  propose  to 
rouse  the  Church  from  its  dead  formalism.  And 
to  do  this  effectually,  they  strike  off  from  the 
old  ways  of  worship,  and  bring  in  new  and 
strange  practices,  that  are  adapted  to  excite  at- 
tention. These  naturally  produce  a  theatrical 
effect,  and  this  is  taken  at  once  for  an  evidence 
of  waking  life  in  the  congregation.  One  meas- 
ure, losing  its  power  in  proportion  as  it  becomes 
familiar,  leads  to  the  introduction  of  another.  A 
few  years  since  a  sermon  was  preached  and  pub- 
lished by  a  somewhat  distinguished  revivalist, 
in  which  the  ground  was  openly  taken  that  there 
must  be  a  constant  succession  of  new  measures 
in  the  Chvuch,  to  keep  it  alive  and  awake  5  since 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


53 


only  in  this  way  could  we  hope  to  counteract 
permanently  the  force  of  that  spiritual  gravita- 
tion^ by  which  the  minds  of  men  are  so  prone 
continually  to  sink  towards  the  earth  in  the 
sphere  of  rehgion.  The  philosophy  this  pre- 
cisely, by  which  the  Church  of  Rome,  from  the 
fourth  Century  downward,  was  actuated  in  all 
her  innovations.  Her  worship  was  designed  to 
make  up  through  the  flesh,  what  was  wanting 
in  the  spirit.  The  friends  of  new  measures  af- 
fect to  be  more  free  than  others,  from  the  au- 
thority of  mere  forms.  They  wish  not  to  be  fet- 
tered and  cramped  by  ordinary  methods.  And 
yet  none  make  more  account  in  fact  of  forms. 
They  discard  old  forms,  only  to  trust  the  more 
blindly  in  such  as  are  new.  Their  methods  are 
are  held  to  be  all  sufficient,  for  awakening  sin- 
ners and  efiecting  their  conversion  !  They  have 
no  faith  in  ordinary  pastoral  ministrations,  com- 
paratively speaking  ;  no  faith  in  the  Catechism. 
Converts  made  in  this  way  are  regarded  with 
suspicion.  But  they  have  great  faith  in  the 
Anxious  Bench  and  its  accompaniments.  Old 
measures  they  hold  to  be  in  their  very  nature 
unfriendly  to  the  spirit  of  revivals  ;  they  are  the 
"letter  that  killeth.^^  But  new  measures  "make 
alive.'^  And  yet  they  are  measures^  when  all 
is  done  ;  and  it  is  only  by  losing  sight  of  the  in- 
ward power  of  truth,  that  any  can  be  led  to  at- 
tach to  them  any  such  importance. 

To  rely  upon  the  Anxious  Bench,  to  be  un- 
der the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  new 
measures  of  any  sort  to  enlist  attention  or  pro- 


64  THE  ANnoUS  BENCH. 


duce  effect,  in  the  work  of  the  gospel,  shows  a 
want  of  inward  spiritual  force.  If  it  be  true  that 
old  forms  are  dead  and  poAverless  in  a  minister's 
hands,  the  fault  is  not  in  the  forms,  but  in  the 
minister  himself ;  and  it  is  the  very  impotence 
of  quackery,  to  think  of  mending  the  case  essen- 
tially by  the  introduction  of  new  forms.  The 
man  who  had  no  power  to  make  himself  felt  in 
the  catechetical  class,  is  deceived  most  assured- 
ly and  deceives  others,  when  he  seems  to  be 
strong  in  the  use  of  the  anxious  bench.  Let  the 
power  of  religion  be  present  in  the  soul  of  him 
who  is  called  to  serve  at  the  altar,  and  no  strange 
fire  will  be  needed  to  kindle  the  sacrifice.  He 
will  require  no  new  measures.  His  strength 
will  appear  rather  in  resuscitating,  and  clothing 
with  their  ancient  force,  the  institutions  and  ser- 
vices already  established  for  his  use.  The 
freshness  of  a  divine  life,  always  young  and  al- 
ways new,  will  stand  forth  to  view  in  forms 
that  before  seemed  sapless  and  dead.  Attention 
will  be  engaged ;  interest  excited  ;  souls  drawn 
to  the  sanctuary.  Sinners  will  be  awakened, 
and  born  into  the  family  of  God.  Christians 
will  be  builded  up  m  faith,  and  made  meet  for 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  Religion 
will  grow  and  prosper.  This  is  the  true  idea  of 
evangelical  power.  But  let  a  preacher  be  in- 
wardly Aveak,  though  ambitious  at  the  same 
time  of  making  an  impression  in  the  name  of  re- 
hgion,  and  he  will  find  it  necessary  to  go  to 
work  in  a  different  way.  Old  forms  must  needs 
be  dull  and  spiritless,  in  his  hands.    His  sermons 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  55 


have  neither  edge  nor  point.  The  services  of 
the  sanctuary  are  lean  and  barren.  He  can 
throw  no  interest  into  the  catechism.  He  has 
no  heart  for  family  visitation,  and  no  skill  to 
make  it  of  any  account.  Still  he  desires  to  be 
doing  something  in  his  spiritual  vocati'On,  to  con- 
vince others,  and  to  satisfy  himself,  that  he  is 
not  without  strength.  What  then  is  to  be  done? 
He  must  resort  to  quackery  ;  not  with  clear  con- 
sciousness, of  course ;  but  instinctively,  as  it 
were,  by  the  pressure  of  inward  want.  He  will 
seek  to  do  by  the  flesh,  what  he  finds  himself 
too  weak  to  effect  by  the  spirit.  Thus  it  be- 
comes possible  for  him  to  make  himself  felt. 
New  measures  fall  in  exactly  with  his  taste,  and 
are  turned  to  fruitful  account  by  his  zeal.  He 
becomes  theatrical ;  has  recourse  to  solemn  tricks; 
cries  aloud ;  takes  strange  attitudes  ;  tells  ex-" 
citing  stories ;  calls  out  the  anxious  ;  &c.  In 
this  way  possibly  he  comes  to  be  known  as  a 
revivalist,  and  is  counted  among  those  who 
preach  the  gospel  "with  the  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  with  power.'^  .  And  yet  when  all 
is  done,  he  remains  as  before  without  true  spirit- 
ual strength.  New  measures  are  the  refuge  of 
weakness. 

There  may  be  cases  indeed,  in  which  genuine 
power  will  express  itself  in  new  forms.  But 
when  this  occurs,  it  will  always  be  without  os- 
tentation or  eff'ort.  Miracles  are  ever  natural, 
as  distinguished  from  mere  wonder-works  and 
feats  of  legerdemain.  The  form  is  the  simple 
product  of  the  power  it  represents,  growing  forth 


56  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


from  it,  and  filled  with  it  at  every  point.  Where 
this  is  the  case,  what  is  new  is  at  the  same  time 
free,  and  entitled  to  our  respect.  But  such  in- 
stances can  never  authorize  imitation,  where 
the  same  inward  power  is  not  present.  Such  im- 
itation is  quackery  and  an  argument  of  weakness. 
Paul  had  power  to  wield  the  name  of  Jesus  with 
etfect  for  the  expulsion  of  demons ;  but  when 
the  sons  of  Sceva,  the  Jew,  undertook  to  exor- 
cise in  the  same  way,  the  demoniac  fell  upon 
them,  and  drove  them  naked  and  wounded  from 
the  house.  They  were  quacks.  Ezekiel  proph- 
esied in  the  valley  of  dry  bones,  and  there  was 
a  noise  and  great  shaking  ;  but  when  a  preacher, 
with  nothing  of  EzekiePs  strength,  lays  himself 
out  to  excite  noise  and  bodily  action,  as  though 
this  must  certainly  include  the  breath  of  life, 
the  whole  business  sinks  into  a  solemn  farce. 
The  Spirit  of  God,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
came  like  a  mighty  rushing  wind  on  the  disci- 
ples in  Jerusalem,  causing  them  to  speak  with 
tongues  ;  but  when  a  religious  meeting  is  turned 
into  a  babel,  to  make  it  pentecostal,  it  deserves 
to  be  reprobated  as  savoring  more  of  hell  than 
heaven.  Life  is  always  beautiful  in  its  place ; 
but  hideous  and  ghastly  are  the  muscular  actings 
of  a  galvanised  corpse.  An  apostrophe  from  the 
hps  of  Whitfield  might  thrill,  like  an  electric 
shock,  through  a  whole  congregation,  and  yet 
be  no  better  than  a  vulgar  mountebank  trick,  as 
imitated  by  an  ordinary  revivalist,  afi*ecting  ta 
walk  in  his  steps.  An  Edwards  might  so  preach 
the  truth  as  to  force  his  hearers  from  their  seats,. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  57 


and  yet  be  no  pattern  whatever  for  those,  who 
with  design  and  calculation  call  in  the  device  of 
"decision  acts/^  as  they  are  termed^  to  create  a 
similar  show  of  power.  Whitfield  and  Edwards 
needed  no  new  measures,  to  make  themselves 
felt.*  They  were  genuine  men  of  God,  who 
had  strength  from  heaven  in  themselves.  They 
were  no  quacks. 

The  system  of  New  Measures  then  is  to  be 
deprecated,  as  famishing  a  refuge  for  weakness 
and  sloth  in  the  Avork  of  the  ministry,  and  in 
this  way  holding  out  a  temptation,  which,  so 
far  as  it  prevails,  leads  ministers  to  undervalue 
and  neglect  the  cultivation  of  that  true  inward 
strength,  without  which  no  measures  can  be  at 
last  of  much  account.    This  is  a  great  evil. 

*  Whitefield  and  Edwards  !  exclaim  the  champions  of  the 
JBench  ;  they  were  both  thorough  going  New  Measure  men, 
and  it  is  a  slander  upon  their  names,  to  speak  of  them  as  be- 
longing to  the  opposite  interest.  Now'  it  is  not  said  here, 
that  they  tolerated  no  new  things  in  the  worship  of  God  ;  but 
only  that  they  needed  nothing  of  this  sort,  to  make  themselves 
felt.  What  was  new,  in  their  case,  was  not  sought ;  it  came 
of  itself,  the  free  natural  result  of  the  power  it  represented. 
Whitefield  had  recourse  to  new  methods  himself,  to  some  ex- 
tent, and  Edwards  carried  his  toleration  of  such  things  far,  in 
favor  of  others  ;  but  in  neither  instance  could  it  be  said,  that 
any  value  was  attached  to  what  was  thus  out  of  the  common 
way,  for  its  own  sake,  or  as  something  to  be  aimed  at  with 
care  and  design  beforehand.  The  judgment  of  Edwards  in 
this  case  moreover,  it  should  be  remembered,  as  given  in  his 
Thoughts  on  the  revival  in  New  England,  had  respect  to  the 
particular  things  it  sanctions,  not  in  a  general  way,  but  as 
related  to  an  extraordinary  work  of  God,  of  great  extent  and 
long  continuance,  most  amply  authenticated  on  o/^er  grounds. 
It  is  a  widely  different  case,  when  we  are  required  to  accept 
such  things,  on  their  own  credit,  as  the  evidence  of  a  revival, 
or  as  the  power  by  which  it  is  to  be  secured. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


It  is  a  vastly  more  easy  thing  to  carry  forward 
the  work  of  religion  in  this  way,  than  it  is  to  be 
steadily  and  diligently  true  to  the  details  of  min- 
isterial duty,  as  prescribed  by  the  apostle  PauL 
To  be  "vigilant,  sober  and  of  good  behavior^' — 
"not  self  willed,  not  soon  angry' ^ — "j^st,  holy, 
temperate'' — "one  that  ruleth  well  his  ownhouse, 
having  his  children  in  subjection  with  all  gravi- 
ty"— holding  fast  the  faithful  word,  in  such  sort 
"that  he  may  be  able  by  sound  doctrine  both  to 
exhort  and  convince  the  gainsay ers ;"  to  "fol- 
low after  righteousness,  godliness,  faith,  love, 
patience,  meekness,"  so  as  to  be  "an  example 
of  the  believers  in  word,  in  conversation,  in 
charity,  in  spirit,  in  faith,  in  purity;"  to  be 
"gentle  unto  all  men,  apt  to  teach,  patient,  in 
meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose  them- 
selves ;"  to  meditate  on  divine  things,  and  to 
be  wholly  given  to  them,  so  as  to  be  continually 
profiting  in  the  view  of  all ;  to  "endure  hardness 
as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ ;"  to  be  a  scribe 
well  instructed  in  the  laAV,  a  workman  that  need 
not  to  be  ashamed,  able  to  bring  forth  from  the 
treasury  of  God's  word  things  new  and  old,  as 
they  may  be  wanted;  to  preach  week  after 
week,  so  as  to  instruct  and  edify  the  souls  of 
men;  to  be  earnest,  faithful,  pungent,  in  the 
lecture  room  and  catechetical  class  ;  to  be  known 
in  the  family  visitation,  in  the  sick  chamber,  in 
the  dwelling  places  of  poverty  and  sorrow,  as 
the  faithful  pastor,  "watching  for  souls,"  whose 
very  presence  serves  to  remind  men  of  holiness 
and  heaven,  not  at  certain  seasons  only,  but 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  59 


from  month  to  month,  from  one  year  always  to 
another  ;  all  this  is  something  great  and  difficult, 
and  not  to  be  compassed  without  a  large  amount 
of  inward  spiritual  strength.  But  it  calls  for 
comparatively  little  power,  for  a  man  to  distin- 
guish himself  as  a  leader  in  periodical  religious 
excitements,  where  zeal  has  room  for  outward 
display,  and  wholesale  action  is  employed  to 
discharge  within  a  month  the  claims  of  a  year. 
It  is  not  asserted  that  a  minister  must  be  desti- 
tute of  the  qualifications  that  are  required  to 
make  a  regularly  faithful  and  efficient  pastor,  in 
order  that  he  may  be  fitted  to  make  himself  con- 
spicuous in  this  way ;  but  most  assuredly  such 
may  be  the  case.  A  man  may  be  mighty  in 
the  use  of  new  measures,  preaching  every  day 
if  need  be  for  three  weeks  to  crowded  congrega- 
tions, excited  all  the  time  ;  he  may  have  the 
anxious  bench  filled  at  the  close  of  each  service, 
and  the  whole  house  thrown  into  disorder  ;  he 
may  have  groaning,  shouting,  clapping,  scream- 
ing, a  very  bedlam  of  passion,  all  around  the 
altar  ;  and  as  the  result  of  all,  he  may  be  able 
to  report  a  hundred  converts  or  more,  translated 
by  the  process,  according  to  his  own  account, 
from  darkness  into  God^s  marvellous  light.  He 
may  be  able  to  act  the  same  part  in  similar  scenes, 
at  different  places,  in  the  course  of  a  winter ; 
and,  for  the  time  bemg,  his  name  may  be  famil- 
iar to  the  lips  of  men,  as  a  revivalist,  whose 
citizenship  might  be  supposed  to  hold  in  the 
third  heavens.  All  this  may  be,  where  to  an 
attentive  observer  it  shall  soon  be  painfully  evi- 


60  THE  ANXIOtJS  BENCH. 


dent,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  true  and  proper 
strength  of  a  man  of  God  is  wholly  wanting. 
A  man  may  so  distinguish  himself,  and  yet  have 
no  power  to  study,  think  or  teach.  He  may  be 
crude,  chaotic,  without  cultivation  or  discipline. 
He  may  be  too  lazy  to  read  or  write.  There 
may  be^  no  power  whatever  in  his  ordinary 
walk  or  conversation,  to  enforce  the  claims  of  re- 
ligion. Meet  him  in  common  secular  connec- 
tions, and  you  find  him  in  a  great  measure  un- 
felt,  in  the  stream  of  worldliness  with  which  he 
is  surrounded.  Often  he  is  covetous ;  often  vain; 
often  without  a  particle  of  humility  or  meekness. 
His  zeal  too  seems  to  exhaust  itself  in  each  spas- 
modic "awakening,^ ^  through  which  it  is  called 
to  pass.  The  man  who  appeared  to  be  all  on 
fire  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  ready  to  storm 
even  the  common  proprieties  of  life  for  the  sake 
of  the  gospel,  sIioavs  himself  noAV  marvellously 
apathetic  towards  the  whole  interest.  He  has 
no  heart  to  seize  common  opportunities,  in  the 
house  or  by  the  way,  to  say  a  word  in  favor  of 
religion.  It  is  well  indeed  if  he  be  not  found  re- 
laxing altogether  his  ministerial  activity,  both 
in  the  pulpit  and  from  house  to  house.  The 
truth  is,  he  has  no  capacity,  no  inward  suffi- 
ciency, for  the  ordinary  processes  of  evangelical 
labor.  Much  is  required  to  be  a  faithful  minister 
of  the  New  Testament ;  whilst  small  resources 
in  comparison  are  needed  for  that  semblance 
of  power,  to  which  a  man  may  attain  by  the 
successful  use  of  the  system  now  in  view. 

Here  then  is  a  strong  temptation  presented  to 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


61 


ministers.  They  are  in  danger  of  being  seduced, 
by  the  appeals  which  this  system  makes  to  their 
selfishness  and  sloth.  It  offers  to  their  view,  a 
"short  method  of  doing  God^s  great  work,  and  a 
sort  of  "royal  road/^  at  the  same  time,  to  min- 
isterial reputation.  How  easy,  in  these  circum- 
stances, for  even  a  good  man,  to  have  his  judg- 
ment warped  and  his  practice  disturbed.  And 
how  natural,  that  weakness,  under  every  form, 
should  rejoice  to  take  refuge,  in  the  shelter  thus 
brought  within  its  reach. 

It  should  be  considered  a  calamity  in  any  com- 
munity, or  in  any  religious  denomination,  to 
have  this  system  in  fashionable  and  popular  use. 
Let  the  idea  prevail,  that  those  who  employ  new 
measures  in  the  gospel  work,  are  the  friends  pre- 
eminently of  serious  heart  religion,  and  of  all 
evangelical  interests ;  whilst  such  as  frown  upon 
them  are  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion,  as  at 
best  but  half  awake  in  the  service  of  Christ. 
Let  it  be  counted  enough  to  authenticate  the  pow- 
er of  a  pastor^s  ministrations,  that  he  shall  be 
able  to  furnish,  from  winter  to  winter,  a  flaming 
report  of  some  three  weeks'  awakening  in  his 
charge,  in  the  course  of  which  scores  of  sinners 
have  been  drawn  to  the  anxious  bench,  and  im- 
mediately afterwards  hurried  to  the  Lord's  ta- 
ble. Let  some  religious  paper,  known  as  the 
organ  of  the  Church,  herald  these  reports^  from 
week  to  week,  without  inquiry  or  discrimina- 
tion, as  "revival  intelligence,"  proclaiming  them 
worthy  of  all  confidence,  and  glorifying  both 
the  measures  and  the  men  concerned  in  the  tri- 


62  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


iimphs  they  record.  Let  those  who  are  counted 
^'pillars  in  the  church^^  give  their  sanction  to  the 
same  judgment,  openly  honoring  the  new  sys- 
tem, or  quietly  conniving  at  what  they  may  not 
entirely  approve,  so  as  by  their  very  cautions 
and  exceptions  to  forward  the  whole  interest  in. 
fact.  Let  the  sentiment  be  industriously  cherish- 
ed, that  with  this  interest  is  identified  in  truth 
the  cause  of  revivals  itself,  and  that  lukewarm- 
ness,  and  dead  orthodoxy,  and  indifference,  if 
not  absolute  hostility,  towards  prayer-meetings, 
missionary  efforts,  and  all  good  things,  charac- 
terise as  a  matter  of  course  all  who  refuse  to  do 
it  homage.  Let  this  state  of  things  hold  with 
respect  to  the  subject,  and  it  needs  no  great  dis- 
cernment to  see  that  it  is  likely  to  work  disas- 
trously upon  the  character  and  fortunes  of  the 
Church  so  circumstanced.  The  attention  of  min- 
isters will  be  turned  away  from  more  important, 
but  less  ostentatious,  methods  of  promoting  re- 
ligion. Preaching  will  become  shallow.  The 
catechism  may  be  possibly  still  treated  with  pro- 
fessed respect,  but  practically  it  will  be  shorn  of 
iits  honor  and  force.  Education  may  be  consid- 
ered to  some  extent  necessary  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  but  in  fact  no  great  care  will  be 
felt  to  have  it  either  thorough  or  complete.  Ig- 
norance, sciolism,  and  quackery,  will  lift  up  the 
head  on  all  sides,  and  show  themselves  off  as 
the  "great  power  of  God.^'  Novices  will  abound, 
"puffed  up  with  pride,^'  each  wiser  in  his  own 
conceit  than  seven  men  that  can  render  a  reason. 
Young  men,  candidates  for  the  sacred  office^ 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


63 


will  be  encouraged  to  try  their  hand  at  the  new 
system,  before  they  have  well  commenced  their 
studies,  and  finding  that  they  have  power  to 
make  themselves  felt  in  this  way,  will  yield 
their  unfledged  judgment  captive  to  its  charms, 
so  as  to  make  no  account  afterwards  of  any 
higher  form  af  strength.  Study,  and  the  retired 
cultivation  of  personal  holiness,  will  seem  to 
their  zeal  an  irksome  restraint ;  and  making 
their  lazy,  heartless  course  of  preparation  as 
short  as  possible,  they  will  go  out  with  the  rep- 
utation of  educated  ministers,  blind  leaders  of 
the  blind,,  to  bring  the  ministry  into  contempt, 
and  fall  themselves  into  the  condemnation  of 
the  devil.  Whatever  arrangements  may  exist 
in  favor  of  a  sound  and  solid  system  of  religion, 
their  operation  will  be  to  a  great  extent  frustra- 
ted and  defeated,  by  the  predominant  influence 
of  a  sentiment,  practically  adverse  to  the  very 
object  they  are  designed  to  reach. 

Thus  will  the  ministry  be  put,  more  or  less, 
out  of  joint,  by  the  force  of  the  wrong  judgment 
involved  in  the  system  of  New  Measu.res,  where 
it  has  come  to  be  fashionable  and  popular.  The 
Chm'ch  must  suffer  corresponding  harm,  of 
course,  in  all  her  interests.  The  old  landmarks 
grow  dim.  Latitudinarian  views  gain  ground. 
Fanatical  tendencies  gather  strength.  The  ec- 
clesiastical body  is  swelled  with  heterogenous 
elements,  loosely  brought  together,  and  actuated 
by  no  common  life,  except  sectarian  bigotry 
may  be  entitled  to  such  name.  False  views  of 
religion  abound.     Conversion  is  everything. 


64  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


sanctification  nothing.  Religion  is  not  regarded 
as  the  hfe  of  God  in  the  soul,  that  must  be  culti- 
vated in  order  that  it  may  grow,  but  rather  as  a 
transient  excitement  to  be  renewed  from  time 
to  time  by  suitable  stimulants  presented  to  the 
imagination.  A  taste  for  noise  and  rant  super- 
sedes all  desire  for  solid  knowledge.  The  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  people  for  religious  instruction 
is  lost  on  the  one  side,  along  with  the  capacity 
of  the  ministry  to  impart  religious  instruction  on 
the  other.  The  details  of  christian  duty  are  but 
little  understood  or  regarded.  Apart  from  its 
seasons  of  excitement,  no  particular  church  is 
expected  to  have  much  power.  Family  piety, 
and  the  religious  training  of  the  young,  are  apt 
to  be  neglected. 

It  is  a  calamity  then,  in  the  general  view  of 
the  case  now  taken,  for  a  community  to  be  drawn 
into  the  vortex  of  this  system,  as  a  reigning  fash- 
ion. The  occasional  use  of  it  might  be  compar- 
tively  safe  ;  in  some  hands,  perhaps^  without 
harm  altogether.  But  let  it  be  in  credit  and  rep- 
utation, for  a  short  time,  on  a  given  field,  and 
its  action  will  be  found  to  be  just  as  mischievous 
as  has  now  been  described.  It  will  prove  the 
refuge  of  weakness  and  the  resort  of  quacks. 
It  will  be  a  "wide  and  effectual  door'^  to  let  in 
fanaticism  and  error.  It  will  be  as  a  worm  at 
the  root  of  the  ministry,  silently  consuming  its 
strength  ;  and  as  a  mildew  on  the  face  of  con- 
gregations and  churches,  beneath  whose  blight- 
ing presence  no  fruit  can  be  brought  to  perfection^ 


t 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Action  of  the  Bench. — It  creates  a  false  issue  for  the  co?!- 
science* — Unsettles  true  seriousness, —  Usurps  the  place 
of  the  Cross, — Results  in  widespread,  lasting  spiritual 
mischief. 


Let  US  now  fix  our  attention  on  th€  action  of 
the  new  system,  directly  and  immediately  con- 
sidered. Without  regard  to  its  more  remote  con- 
nections and  consequences,  let  us  inquire  what 
its  merits  may  be  in  fact,  as  it  respects  the  in* 
terest  it  proposes  to  promote,  namely,  the  con- 
version of  souls.  Is  it  the  wisdom  of  God  and 
the  power  of  God,  as  its  friends  would  fain  have 
us  believe,  for  convincing  careless  sinners,  and 
bringing  them  to  the  foot  of  the  Cross  ?  Let  the 
Anxious  Bench,  in  this  case,  be  taken  as  the 
representative  of  the  entire  system.  No  part  of 
it  carries  a  more  plausible  aspect.  If  it  be  found 
wanting  and  unworthy  of  confidence  here,  we 
may  safely  pronounce  it  to  be  unworthy  of  con- 
fidence at  every  other  point. 

As  usually  applied,  in  seasons  of  religious  ex- 
citement, I  hold  the  measure  to  be  spiritually 
dangerous  ;  requiring  great  skill  and  mi^ch  cau- 
tion, to  be  used  without  harm  in  any  case,  and 
.5  '  \ 


66  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


as  managed  by  quacks  and  novices,  (who  are 
most  ready  to  be  taken  with  it,)  more  suited  ta 
ruin  souls  than  to  bring  them  to  heaven.  This 
view  is  estabUshed  by  the  following  positions. 

1.  The  Anxious  Benchj  in  the  case  of  an 
awakened  sinner^  creates  a  false  issue  for  the 
conscience.  God  has  a  controversy  with  the 
impenitent.  He  calls  upon  them  to  acknowledge 
their  guilt  and  misery,  with  true  repentance, 
and  to  submit  themselves  by  faith  to  the  righte- 
ousness of  the  gospel.  It  is  their  condemnation, 
that  they  refuse  to  do  this.  When  any  sinner 
begins  to  be  sensible  in  any  measure  of  his  actual 
position  in  this  view,  he  is  so  far  awakened  and 
under  conviction.  Now  in  these  circumstances, 
what  does  his  case  mainly  require  ?  Clearly, 
that  he  should  be  made  to  see  more  and  more 
the  true  nature  of  the  controversy  in  which  he 
is  involved,  till  he  finds  himself  inwardly  enga- 
ged to  lay  down  the  weapons  of  his  rebellion, 
and  cast  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ.  He  needs  to  have  his  eyes  fastened  and 
fixed  on  his  own  relations,  spiritually  consider- 
ed, to  the  High  and  Holy  One,  with  whom  he 
is  called  to  make  his  peace.  The  question  is, 
will  he  repent  and  yield  his  heart  to  God,  or  not? 
This  is  the  true  issue  to  be  met  and  settled ; 
and  it  is  all  important  that  he  should  be  so  shut 
up  to  this  in  his  thoughts,  that  he  may  have  no 
power  to  escape  the  force  of  the  challenge  which 
it  involves.  That  spiritual  treatment  must  be 
considered  best  in  his  case,  which  serves  most 
fully  to  bring  this  issue  into  view,  and  holds  him 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


67 


most  effectually  confronted  with  it  in  his  con- 
science, beneath  the  clear  light  of  the  Bible. 
But  let  the  sinner  in  this  state  be  called  to  come 
forward  to  a  particular  seat,  in  token  of  his 
anxiety.  He  finds  himself  at  once  under  the 
force  of  a  different  challenge.  The  question  is 
not,  will  he  repent  and  yield  his  heart  to  God, 
but  will  he  go  to  the  anxious  bench ;  which  is 
something  different  altogether.  Thus  a  new  is- 
sue is  raised,  by  which  the  other  is  obscured  or 
thrust  out  of  sight.  It  is  a  false  issue  too ;  be- 
cause it  seems  to  present  the  real  point  in  con- 
troversy, when  in  fact  it  does  not  do  so  at  all,, 
but  only  distracts  and  bewilders  the  judgment 
so  far  as  this  is  concerned.  While  the  awaken- 
ed person  is  balancing  the  question  of  going  to 
the  anxious  bench,  his  mind  is  turned  away  from 
the  contemplation  of  the  immediate  matter  of 
quarrel  between  himself  and  God.  The  higher 
question  is  merged,  for  the  time,  in  one  that  is 
lower.  A  new  case  is  created  for  the  conscience, 
of  artificial,  arbitrary  form,  and  ambiguous  au- 
thority. Can  it  be  wise  thus  to  shift  the  ground 
of  debate,  exchanging  a  strong  position  with  re- 
gard to  the  sinner  for  one  that  is  weak  ?  Sup- 
pose it  were  made  a  point  with  awakened  per- 
sons, that  they  should  rise  up  and  confess  be- 
fore the  congregation  all  their  leading  sins,  in 
detail  and  by  name,  to  break  their  pride,  show 
their  desire  to  be  saved,  excite  prayer  in  their 
behalf,  &c. ;  would  not  this  requirement,  inter- 
posed as  a  preliminary  to  the  main  point  of  con- 
version itself,  and  enforced  by  no  proper  sane- 


68  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


tion  for  the  conscience,  serve  only  to  turn  away 
the  attention  of  such  persons  from  the  object 
with ,  which  it  should  be  employed,  thwarting 
the  very  interest  it  might  affect  to  promote  ? 
And  is  there  not  room  for  objection  to  the  Anx- 
ious Bench,  on  the  very  same  ground  ?  It  is 
certainly  a  little  strange,  that  the  class  of  persons 
precisely  who  claim  to  be  the  most  strenuous, 
in  insisting  upon  unconditional,  immediate  sub- 
mission to  God,  scarcely  tolerating  that  a  sinner 
should  be  urged  to  pray  or  read  the  bible,  lest 
his  attention  should  be  diverted  from  that  one 
point,  are  as  a  general  thing  nevertheless  quite 
ready  to  interpose  this  measure  in  his  way  to 
the  foot  of  the  cross,  as  though  it  included  in  fact 
the  very  thing  itself  And  yet  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  Anxious  Bench,  is  in  its  own  nature  ^s  much 
collateral  to  the  duty  of  coming  to  Christ,  as  a 
pikrimage  to  Jerusalem.  In  either  case  a  false 
issue  is  presented  to  the  anxious  soul,  by  which 
for  the  time  a  true  sight  of  its  circumstances  is 
hindered  rather  than  promoted. 

It  may  be  thought  indeed,  that  the  movement 
of  going  to  the  Anxious  Bench  is  so  easily  per- 
formed, as  not  to  be  properly  open  to  this  excep- 
tion. It  may  be  considered  a  mere  circiim- 
stanccj  that  can  have  no  weight  practically  in 
the  view  now  presented.  But  we  shall  see  that 
this  is  not  the  case.  However  small  the  point 
involved  may  seem,  it  is  not  only  of  account,  as 
producing  for  the  moment  a  factitious  case  of 
conscience,  open  to  "doubtful  disputation,^'  but 
it  includes  also  actual  difficulty  that  cannot  fail 


THE  ANXIOTJS  BENCH. 


69 


to  be  felt.  Whether  the  challenge  be  refused  or 
accepted,  it  becomes  in  most  cases  more  than  a 
circumstance,  and  is  of  no  small  force  in  fact  in 
the  way  of  embarrassing  the  proper  exercises  of 
an  awakened  soul 

2.  The  tdnxioits  Bench,  in  the  case  of  those 
who  come  to  it,  is  adapted  by  its  circumstan- 
ces to  disturb  and  distract  the  thoughts  of  the 
truly  serious,  and  thus  to  obstruct  the  action 
of  truth  in  their  minds.  It  is  no  doubt  quite  a 
common  thing  for  persons  to  be  carried  into  this 
movement,  who  have  little  or  no  seriousness  at 
the  time,  urged  forward  by  sympathy,  or  super- 
stition, or  a  mere  taste  for  distinction.  There  is 
much  reason  in  the  remark  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mil- 
ler, when  he  tells  us  that  he  should  expect,  in 
calhng  out  the  anxious,  to  find  the  persons  ris- 
ing and  presentmg  themselves,  to  be,  for  the 
most  part,  "the  forward,  the  sanguine,  the  rash, 
the  self-confident  and  the  self-righteous,^'  while 
many  who  kept  their  seats  would  prove  to  be 
the  modest,  the  humble,  the  brokenhearted,  the 
very  depth  of  whose  seriousness  had  restrained 
them  from  coming  forward  in  this  way.*  And 
yet  the  measure  may  be  expected  to  prevail  of 
course  with  many  persons  also,  who  are  truly 
under  conviction,  and  whom  nothing  but  the 
fear  of  losing  their  souls  could  engage  to  thrust 
themselves  thus  into  view.  In  any  case  how- 
ever, the  genuine  religious  feeling  that  may  ex- 
ist, is  likely  to  be  in  a  great  measure  overwhelm- 


*  Appendix  to  Sprague  on  Kevivals,  p,  38. 


70  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


ed  by  the  excitement  that  must  be  involved  in 
the  very  act  of  coming  to  such  a  resolution,  and 
subsequently  in  carrying  it  into  effect.  The 
truth  of  this  remark  will  be  more  clear,  when 
we  remember  that  young  persons,  and  females 
especially,  form  the  main  body  commonly  of 
those  who  are  drawn  to  the  anxious  bench. 
Their  susceptibility  fits  them  to  be  wrought  up- 
on more  readily  than  others,  to  the  extent  that 
is  necessary  to  secure  this  point.  But  the  same 
susceptibility  renders  it  certain,  that  in  circum- 
stances so  exciting  it  will  be  impossible  for  them, 
to  hold  their  thoughts  or  feelings  in  any  such 
balance,  as  the  interest  of  religion  requires. 
They  of  all  others  would  need  to  be  sheltered 
from  stimulating  impressions  in  this  form,  at 
such  a  time,  instead  of  being  forced  to  face 
them  in  their  weakness. 

Take  a  single  case,  in  illustration  of  the  way 
in  which  the  system  may  be  expected  to  work. 
Here  is  a  gentle  girl,  sixteen  or  seventeen  years 
of  age.  She  finds  herself  in  the  midst  of  a  large 
congregation,  where  at  the  close  of  the  sermon, 
the  minister,  encouraged  by  the  general  serious- 
ness of  the  house,  invites  all  who  are  concerned 
for  the  salvation  of  their  souls,  to  come  forward 
and  place  themselves  on  the  anxious  seat.  She 
has  been  perhaps  a  long  time  under  some  concern, 
or  it  may  be  that  God's  truth  has  been  felt  for 
the  first  time  on  this  occasion ;  not  with  great 
force  perhaps,  but  so  at  least  as  to  bring  her 
spirit  to  a  solemn  stand  in  the  presence  of  her 
Maker.    She  hears  the  invitation,  but  shrinks 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


71 


from  the  thought  of  doing  what  the  minister  de- 
mands. The  call  however  is  reiterated,  and 
enforced  by  the  most  exciting  appeals  to  the 
imagination.  After  a  few  moments  there  is  a 
stir ;  one  is  going  forward  to  the  bench,  and  then 
another,  and  another.  She  is  struck,  moved, 
agitated,  A  struggle  has  commenced  in  her  bo- 
som, which  she  herself  is  not  prepared  to  under- 
stand- May  she  not  be  fighting  against  God, 
she  asks  herself,  in  refusing  to  go  forward  with 
the  rest  ?  May  it  not  be  in  her  case,  at  this  mo- 
ment, now  or  never  ?  All  this  is  solemnly 
crowded  on  her  alarmed  conscience  by  the 
whole  character  of  the  occasion,  in  the  way  in 
which  it  is  managed  by  the  minister.  Already 
her  soul  has  passed  from  the  element  of  convic- 
tion iiito  the  element  of  excitement.  The  "still 
small  voice^^  of  the  Spirit  is  drowned  amid  the 
tumult  of  her  own  conflicting  thoughts.  But 
•see,  she  yields.  With  a  desperate  struggle,  she 
has  thrown  herself  forth  into  the  aisle.  Tremb- 
ling and  agitated  in  every  nerve,  poor  victim  of 
quackery,  she  makes  her  way,  consciously  in 
the  eye  of  that  large  watching  assembly,  from 
one  end  of  the  house  to  the  other,  and  sinks, 
half  fainting  with  the  effort,  into  a  corner  of  the 
magic  seat.  And  now,  where  is  she,  in  spirit- 
ual position?  Are  her  tears  the  measure  of  her 
sorrow  for  sin  ?  Alas,  she  is  farther  off"  from 
God,  than  she  was  before  this  struggle  com- 
menced in  her  father^s  pew.  Galm  reflection  is 
departed.  Her  hold  upon  the  inward  has  been 
lost.     Could  any  intelligent  Christian  parent, 


72  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


triily  anxious  for  the  salvation  of  his  daughter^ 
deliberately  advise  her  in  the  circumstances 
which  have  been  supposed,  to  seek  religion  in 
this  way  ?  Can  the  pastor  be  wise,  who  is  wil- 
ling to  subject  the  lambs  of  his  flock  to  such  a 
process,  with  the  view  of  bringing  the  good  seed 
of  the  word,  to  take  toot,  and  vegetate  in  their 
hearts  ? 

3.  The  Anxious  Bench  is  adapted  to  create 
and  foster  the  ruinous  imagination^  that  there 
is  involved  in  the  act  of  coming  to  it  a  real  de- 
cision in  favor  of  religion.  It  is  ^ell  known, 
how  in  the  Church  of  Rome  certain  observances 
are  held  to  carry  with  them  a  sort  of  inward 
merit  in  this  way,  as  though  by  themselves  they 
had  power  to  secure  a  spiritual  blessing.  There 
is  a  constant  tendency  with  men  indeed,  to  in- 
vest the  outward  under  some  form,  with  the  vir- 
tue that  belongs  only  to  the  inward,  so  as  if  pos- 
sible to  ^^get  religion,''  and  hold  it  as  property 
or  means  for  some  other  end,  instead  of  entering 
into  it  as  the  proper  home  of  their  own  being. 
It  is  not  strange  then  that  the  Anxious  Bench 
should  be  liable  to  be  so  abused.  It  is  only 
strange  that  sensible  persons  should  make  so  lit- 
tle account  of  this  danger,  as  is  sometimes  done. 
We  are  gravely  told,  it  is  true,  that  coming  to 
the  anxious  bench  is  not  considered  to  be  the 
same  thing  as  coming  to  Christ.*    The  measure 


*  "Who  ever  pretended  that  going  to  the  anxious  bench  is 
conversion  ?"  lAith.  Observer,  Dec.  15,  1S43.  And  yet,  in 
the  same  article,  it  is  said  again,  of  one  who  yields  to  the 
axeasure  :  "Does  he  not  resolve  no  longer  to  resist  the  influ- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  73 


is  represented  to  be  important,  on  other  grounds, 
and  for  other  purposes.  Certainly,  it  is  not  im- 
agined for  a  moment,  that  any  one  in  his  senses 
will  be  found  ready  to  say  tha,t  coming  to  the 
bench  is  itself  religion.  But  still  that  some  such 
impression  is  liable  to  be  created  by  the  measure, 
and  is  extensively  created  by  it  in  fact  as  it  is 
commonly  used,  admits  of  no  dispute.  It  is  not 
uncommon  indeed  for  those  who  make  use  of  it, 
to  throw  in  occasionally  something  like  a  word 
of  caution  with  regard  to  this  point ;  and  in 
some  few  instances,  possibly,  stich  prudence 
may  be  observed,  as  fully  to  guard  against  the 
danger.  But  this  is  not  common.  As  a  gener- 
al thing,  even  the  cautioi^pj  that  are  interposed 
are  in  such  a  form,  as  to  be  almost  immediately 
neutralized  and  absorbed,  by  representations  of 
an  opposite  character.    The  whole  matter  is  so 


ences  of  divine  ^race,  and  wage  war  against  God,  and  the  ef- 
forts of  his  faithful  minister?"  Such  submission  is  common- 
ly taken  to  be  conversion. — In  another  place,  the  editor  finds 
the  principte  of  the  Bench  in  John  vii.  37,  If  any  man  thirsty 
let  him  comeunto  me  and  drinks  and  in  Matt.  xi.  28,  Come  un- 
to me  all  ye  thai  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  &c.  The  parallel 
is  monstrous,  and  has  a  rank  smell  of  pelagianisra.  In  like 
strain,  Mr.  Davis  of  Pittsburg,  calls  the  bench  a  "test,"  and 
compares  it  with  the  '^device  of  the  forbidden  fruit"  in  the 
garden  of  Eden,  and  the  "anxious  river"  in  which  Naaman, 
the  Syrian  was  required  to  wash,  2  Kings  v.  10-- 12,  that  he 
might  be  cured  of  his  leprosy.  "If  no  test- questions  are  pre- 
sented, how  can  men  everacty  ot determine  whether  they  will 
serve  God  or  not  ?"  ^'Viewed  as  a  means  of  bringing  sinners 
to  an  immediate  decision  on  the  subject  of  religion,  no  reason- 
able objection  can  be  brought  against  it."  Plea  for  New 
Measures,  p.  23—30.  Right  bravely  spoken  again;  but,  1 
repeat  it,  the  very  dialect  of  Quackdom  ! 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


managed,  as  practically  to  encourage  the  idea 
that  a  veritable  step  towards  Christ  at  least,  if  not 
actually  into  his  arms,  is  accomplished  in  the  act 
of  coming  to  the  anxious  seat.  I  have  had  an  op- 
portunity of  witnessing  the  use  of  the  measure, 
in  different  hands  and  on  different  occasions ; 
but  in  every  case,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  room 
was  given  for  this  censure.*  Indeed  I  do  not 
see  well,  how  the  measure  could  be  employed 
in  any  case  with  much  effect,  without  the  help 
of  some  such  representation.  We  find  accord- 
ingly that  the  whole  process,  as  it  were  in  spite 
of  itself,  runs  ordinarily  into  this  form.  Sinners 
are  exhorted  to  come  to  the  anxious  bench,  as 
for  their  life,  by  the  ssupe  considerations  precise- 
ly that  should  have  fo  *e  to  bring  them  to  Christ, 
and  that  could  have  no  force  at  all  in  this  case, 
if  it  were  not  confounded  more  or  less  to  their 
perception  with  the  other  idea.  The  burden  of 
all  is  presented  in  the  beautiful,  but  much  pros- 
tituted hymh,  usually  sung  on  such  occasions, 
Come,  hurrAtle  sinner.    The  whole  of  this  is 

*'He  exhorted  them  to  repent  of  their  sins,  and  go  to  their 
forsaken  God.  To  aid  them  in  their  return,  an  anxious  seat 
was  prepared  on  Sabbath  evening  ;  &c."  Corresp.  Lxith.  Obs 
Dec.  16,  1842  "The  anxious  seat  was  introduced  through 
8ome^opposition--and  at  it  the  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  the  old  and  young,  the  male  and  female  bowed.  They 
were  not  ashamed  "of  that  despised  seajt,  but  presented  them- 
selves there  with  as  much  avidity  as  if  they  were  certain  of 
getting  a  fortune  tt\ere.  And  so  "they  did.  There  they  re- 
ceived a  title  to  mansions  in  the  skies,  &c."  Jan.  6,  1843, 
^'On  Sunday  night  the  anxious  were  invited  to  occupy  the 
front  seats,  for  the  ui|ual  purposes,  and  O  what  a  crowding 
was  there  to  the  foot  dl  the  cross  I"   June  8,  1843. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  75 


ttiade  to  bear,  with  all  the  weight  the  preacher  can 
put  into  it,  on  the  question  of  coming  to  the  anxious 
seat.  Every  effort  is  employed  to  shut  up  the 
conscience  of  the  sinner  to  this  issue  ;  to  make 
him  feel  that  he  must  come  or  lun  the  hazard 
of  losing  his  soul.  Advantage  is  taken  of  his 
hopes  and  fears,  in  every  form  of  awakening 
and  stimulating  appeal,  to  draw  him  from  his 
seat  The  call  is  so  represented,  as  to  make  this 
the  test  of  penitence.  Those  who  come  are  wel- 
comed as  returning  prodigals,  who  have  decided 
to  come  out  from  the  world  and  be  on  the  Lord^s 
side ;  while  all  who  refuse  to  come  are  treated 
as  showing  just  the  opposite  temper ;  and  it  of- 
ten happens  that  the  preacher,  in  the  warmth 
of  his  zeal,  charges  upon  their  refusal  in  this 
view  the  same  guilt  and  madness  and  peril  pre- 
cisely, that  lie  upon  the  deliberate  rejection  of 
Christ  himself  Now  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  say, 
in  these  circumstances,  that  after  all  the  Anxious 
Bench  is  not  substituted  for  Christ.  So  the  pu- 
seyite  and  papist  disclaim  tlie  idea  of  putting 
into  his  place  the  Baptismal  Font.  But  in  both 
cases  it  is  perfectly  plain,  that  Christ  is  serious- 
ly wronged  notwithstanding.  In  both  cases  the 
error  is  practically  countenanced  and  encour- 
aged, that  coming  to  Christ,  and  the  use  of  an 
outward  form,  are  in  whole,  or  at  least  to  some 
considerable  extent,  one  and  the  same  thing; 
with  the  difference  only,  that  the  form  in  one 
case  is  of  divine  prescription,  while  in  the  other 
it  is  wholly  of  man^s  device. 
It  is  true  indeed  that  the  "mourners,'^  as  they 


76  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


are  sometimes  termed,  are  still  treated,  after 
coming  to  the  bench  or  altar,  as  persons  yet  un- 
converted. This  should  neutralize,  it  might 
seem,  the  idea  of  any  such  saving  virtue  in  the 
measure,  as  is  here  supposed  to  be  encouraged^ 
in  the  usual  style  of  calling  out  the  anxious. 
But  this  is  not  the  case.  The  coming  is  not  ac- 
cepted at  once  as  conversion,  though  exhibited 
apparently  as  the  same  thing  immediately  be- 
fore ;  but  still  it  is  taken  practically  for  something 
closely  bordering  on  conversion.  The  mourners 
are  counted  nearer  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
than  they  were  before.  They  are  exhorted  now 
to  ^^go  on,"  as  having  actually  begun  a  divine 
life.  The  process  of  c^pversion  is  commenced. 
They  have  come  to  the  birth ;  and  all  that  is 
wanted  to  bring  them  fully  into  the  new  world 
of  grace,  is  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  sys-^ 
tem  of  deliverance,  to  which  they  have  now 
happily  committed  their  souls.  The  Anxious 
Bench  is  made  still  to  be  the  laver  of  regenera- 
tion, the  gate  of  paradise,  the  womb  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  Conversion  is  represented  to  be  far 
easier  here,  than  elsewhere.  We  find  accord-- 
ingly  that  this  idea  fairly  carried  out,  leads  cer- 
tain sects  of  the  full  New  Measure  stamp,  to 
profess  a  peculiar  tact  and  power  in  carrying  the 
process  of  spiritual  delivery  regularly  out  at  once 
to  its  proper  issue.  It  is  only  for  want  of  proper 
treatment  they  say,  and  because  ^^there  is  not 
strength  to  bring  forth,"  in  other  cases,  that 
souls  are  brought  thus  far,  without  being  bom 
at  once  into  the  kingdom.    Their  Anxious 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


77 


Bench,  or  the  altar  where  their  mourners  kneel 
and  roll,  is  commended  to  the  world,  as  a  more 
perfect  organ  of  conversion.  Once  fairly  within 
its  grasp,  the  soul  as  a  general  thing  is  quickly- 
set  free  ;  often  in  the  course  of  a  few  min- 
utes, and  very  commonly  before  the  close  of  the 
meeting.  The}^  know  how  to  "get  the  anxious 
through,''^  All  this  is  sufficiently  extravagant ; 
but  still  it  is  only  a  gross  expression  of  the  feel- 
ing, commonly  encouraged  by  the  use  of  the 
Anxious  Bench,  with  regard  to  its  virtue  as  a 
help  to  conversion.  The  whole  measure  is  so 
ordered,  as  to  promote  the  delusion  that  the  use 
of  it  serves  some  purpose  in  the  regeneration  of 
the  soul. 

4.  Harm  and  loss  to  the  souls  of  men  flow 
largely  from  the  use  of  the  Anxious  Bench.  It 
is  an  injury,  in  the  case  of  an  awakened  sinner, 
to  have  his  attention  diverted,  in  the  first  place, 
from  the  real  issue  before  him  to  one  that  is  false. 
It  is  an  injury  farther,  to  have  reflection  arrested, 
and  the  Avorkings  of  true  conviction  in  part  or 
altogether  overwhelmed,  by  the  excitement  of 
obeying  a  call  to  come  out  in  tiiis  way.  It  is  an 
injury  again,  to  be  induced  to  lean  upon  such  a 
movement;  as  though  it  could  have  any  eflScacy 
at  all  to  bring  the  soul  near  to  God.  But  the 
harm  and  loss  occasioned  by  the  system,  reach 
much  farther  than  this. 

The  inward  tumult  resulting  from  the  occasion, 
is  in  a  high  degree  unfavorable  to  genuine  seri- 
ousness, while  it  lasts,  and  is  sure  to  be  follow- 
ed by  a  reaction,  still  more  hurtful  to  the  spirit^ 


78 


THE  AXXIOUS  BE>'CH. 


when  the  occasion  is  over.  "All  means  and 
measures/''  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander,  in  his 
letter  to  Dr.  Sprague,  ^'-which  produce  a  high 
degree  of  excitement,  or  a  great  commotion  of 
the  passions,  should  be  avoided ;  because  reli- 
gion does  not  consist  in  these  violent  emotions, 
nor  is  it  promoted  by  them :  and  when  they  sub- 
side, a  wretched  state  of  deadness  is  sure  to 
succeed. 

A  most  unhappy  uifluence  is  often  exerted  on 
those,  who  are  di'awn  to  the  anxious  bench, 
and  afterwards  fall  back  again  openly  to  their 
former  careless  state.  They  may  have  had  but 
very  little  comdction,  perhaps  none  at  all.  But 
their  feelings  have  been  excited,  and  without 
knowledge  or  reflection,  they  have  gone  for- 
ward among  the  professed  mom'ners,  vaguely 
expecting  to  gain  religion  in  this  way.  After- 
wards they  find  themselves  completely  stripped 
of  all  feelmg.  They  have  too  much  miderstand- 
mg  to  set  any  value  on  their  experience,  and 
too  much  conscience  to  be  willing  that  it  should 
pass  for  more  than  they  know  it  to  be  worth  in 
fact  ;  or  possibly  they  have  swimg  clear  over 
to  the  opposite  quarter,  and  have  no  wish  at  all 
to  be,  or  to  be  considered  rehgious.  And  yet 
they  have  been  on  the  anxious  bench,  and  in 
gi'eat  distress  apparently  for  their  sins.  They 
have  publicly  connnitted  themselves,  in  the  case, 
in  a  way  that  is  not  likel)^  soon  to  be  forgotten. 
All  tliis  works  mjuriously  on  their  mmds  now. 
Rash  vaws  are  always  hurtful.  The  postiure 
with  regard  to  rehgion  is  altogether  worse  than 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


79 


it  was  before.  Often  disgust  and  irritation  to- 
wards the  whole  subject,  are  the  unfortunate 
consequence. 

But  in  a  vast  multitude  of  instances,  the  ope- 
ration of  the  measure  is  worse  still.  The  slight- 
ly convicted  are  full  as  likely  to  go  forward  in 
the  way  of  profession,  as  they  are  to  go  back. 
Powerful  considerations  are  at  hand,  besides 
the  interest  of  their  own  salvation,  to  hold  them 
to  the  course  on  which  they  have  entered.  They 
are  committed,  and  have  no  prospect  of  coming 
honorably  or  comfortably  out  of  their  present 
posture,  except  by  getting  through,  on  the  side 
towards  the  Church  and  not  towards  the  world. 
There  is  room  too  for  the  workings  of  ambition 
and  emulation;  a  desire  to  be  noticed,  and  an  impa- 
tience ofbeing  left  behind  by  others,  in  the  career  of 
spiritual  experience.  "It  ought  not  to  be  forgot- 
ten,'^ says  Dr.  Alexander,  "that  the  heart  is  de- 
ceitful above  all  things,  and  that  strong  excitement 
does  not  prevent  the  risings  of  pride  and  vainglory. 
Many  become  hypocrites,  when  they'find  them- 
selves the  objects  of  much  attention,  and  affect 
feelings  which  are  not  real.''*  And  if  all  such 
impure  motives  might  be  supposed  to  be  out  of 
the  way,  there  is  still  enough  to  render  the  dan- 
ger of  spurious  conversion,  in  such  circimistan- 
ces,  alarmingly  great.  The  mourner  strives  of 
course  to  feel  faith.  The  spiritual  helpers  stand- 
ing round  are  actively  concerned,  to  see  him 
brought  triumphantly  through.  Excitement 

♦  Sprague  on  Revivals.   Appendix,  p.  7. 


80  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


rules  the  hour.  No  room  is  found  either  for  in- 
struction or  reflection.  A  sea  of  feeUng,  bhnd, 
dark  and  tempestuous,  rolls  on  all  sides.  Is  it 
strange,  that  souls  thus  conditioned  and  sur- 
rounded, should  become  the  victims  of  spiritual 
delusion  ?  All  high  wrought  excitement  must, 
in  its  very  nature,  break,  when  it  reaches  a  cer- 
tain point.  How  natural  that  this  relaxation, 
carrying  with  it  the  sense  of  relief  as  compared 
with  the  tension  that  had  place  before,  should 
be  mistaken  on  such  an  occasion  for  the  peace 
of  religion,  that  mysterious  something  w±ich  it 
is  the  object  of  all  this  process  to  fetch  into  the 
mind.  And  how  natural  that  the  wearied  sub- 
ject of  such  experience,  should  be  hurried  into 
a  wild  fit  of  joy  by  this  imagination,  and  stand 
prepared,  if  need  be,  to  clap  his  hands  and  shout 
hallelujah,  over  his  fancied  deliverance.  Or 
even  without  this  mimic  sensation,  how  natural 
that  the  mourner,  at  a  certain  point,  should  allow 
himself  to  be  persuaded  by  his  own  wishes,  or 
by  the  authority  of  the  minister  perhaps,  and 
other  friends,  telling  him  how  easy  it  is  to  be- 
lieve and  urging  him  at  last  to  consider  the  thing 
done  ;  so  as  to  take  to  himself  the  comfort  of  the 
new  birth,  as  it  were  in  spite  of  his  own  expe- 
rience, and  be  counted  among  the  converted. 
Altogether  the  danger  of  delusion  and  mistake, 
^  where  this  style  of  advancing  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion prevails,  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  very 
great.  The  measure  of  the  danger  will  vary  of 
<;ourse,  with  the  extent  to  which  the  character- 
istic spirit  of  the  system  is  allowed  to  work.  A 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


81 


Winebrennerian  camp  meeting,  surrendering  it- 
self to  the  full  sway  of  this  spirit,  will  carry  with 
it  a  more  disastrous  operation,  than  the  simple 
Anxious  Bench  in  a  respectable  and  orderly 
Church.  But  in  any  form,  the  system  is  full  of 
peril,  as  opening  the  way  to  spurious  conver- 
sions, and  encouraging  sinners  to  rest  in  hopes 
that  are  vain  and  false. 

There  need  be  no  reserve,  in  speaking  or  wri- 
ting on  this  subject.  Neither  charity  nor  delica- 
cy require  us  to  be  silent,  where  the  truth  of 
religion  is  itself  so  seriously  concerned.  To 
countenance  the  supposition,  that  the  souls  which 
are  so  plentifully  "carried  through'^  what  is  cal- 
led the  process  of  conversion  under  this  system, 
are  generally  converted  in  fact,  would  be  to 
wrong  the  Gospel.  "Let  God  be  true,  though 
every  man  should  be  a  liar.'^  Of  all  the  hund- 
reds that  are  reported,  from  year  to  year,  as 
brought  into  the  kingdom,  among  the  Metho- 
dists, United  Brethren,  Winebrennerians,  and 
others  who  work  in  the  same  style,  under  the 
pressure  of  artificial  excitement,  how  small  a 
proportion  give  evidence  subsequently  that  they 
have  been  truly  regenerated.  The  Church  at 
large  does  not  feel  bound  at  all  to  accept  as  gen- 
uine and  v/orthy  of  confidence,  the  many  cases 
of  conversion  they  are  able  to  number,  as 
wrought  with  noise  and  tumult  at  camp  meet- 
ings and  on  other  occasions.  It  is  taken  for 
granted  that  a  large  part  of  them  will  not  stand. 
And  so  it  turns  out,  in  fact.  In  many  cases, 
the  fruits  of  a  ^reat  revival  are  reduced  almost 
a 


m 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


to  nothing,  before  the  end  of  a  single  year.  So 
the  system  unfolds  its  own  nakedness,  in  a  prac- 
tical way.  And  this  nakedness  comes  to  view, 
in  some  measure,  wherever  much  account  is 
made  of  the  Anxious  Bench.  There  may  be 
no  methodistical  extravagance,  no  falUng  down 
or  rolling  in  the  dust,  no  shouting,  jumping  or 
clapping  ;  only  the  excitement  and  disorder  ne- 
cessarily belonging  to  the  measure  itself;  still  it 
is  found  that  conversions  made  in  this  way  do 
not  as  a  general  thing  wear  well.  No  one, 
whose  judgment  has  been  taught  by  proper  ob- 
servation, will  allow  himself  to  confide  in  the 
results  of  a  revival,  however  loudly  trumpeted, 
in  which  the  Anxious  Bench  is  known  to  have 
played  a  prominent  part.  He  may  trust  chari- 
tably that  out  of  the  fifty  or  a  hundred  converts 
thus  hurried  into  the  Church,  some  will  be  found 
"holding  fast  the  beginning  of  their  confidence 
firm  unto  the  end  but  he  will  stand  prepared 
to  hear  of  a  great  falling  away,  in  the  case  of 
the  accession  as  a  whole,  in  the  course  of  no  con- 
siderable time.  Of  some  such  revivals  scarce  a 
monument  is  to  be  found,  at  the  end  of  a  few 
months,  unless  it  be  in  the  spiritual  atrophy 
they  have  left  behind.  And  it  often  happens 
that  churches  instead  of  growing  and  gathering 
strength  by  these  triumphs  of  grace  as  they  are 
called,  seem  actually  to  loose  ground  in  propor- 
tion to  their  frequency  and  power.  If  any 
weight  is  to  be  attached  to  observations,  which 
are  on  all  sides  within  the  reach  of  those  who 
choose  to  inquire,  it  must  be  evident  that  as  this 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


83 


system  is  in  all  respects  suited  to  produce  spuri- 
ous  conversions,  so  it  is  continually  producing 
them  in  fact,  to  a  terrible  extent.  For  the  evil 
is  not  to  be  measured  of  course  simply  by  the 
actual  amount  of  open  defection,  that  may  take 
place  among  those  who  are  thus  brought  to 
"embrace  religion/'  So  many  and  so  strong 
are  the  considerations  that  must  operate  upon  a 
supposed  convert,  to  hold  fast  at  least  the  form 
of  godliness,  after  it  has  been  once  assumed, 
though  wholly  ignorant  of  its  power,  that  we 
may  well  be  surprised  to  find  the  actual  falling 
away,  in  the  case  of  such  ingatherings,  so  very 
considerable  as  now  represented.  As  it  is,  it  be- 
comes certain,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
that  this  apostacy  forms  only  a  part  of  the  false 
profession  from  which  it  springs.  While  some 
fall  back  openly  to  the  world,  others  remain  in 
the  Church,  with  a  name  to  live  while  they  are 
dead.  This  presumption  is  abundantly  confirm- 
ed by  observation.  Very  many  thus  introduced 
into  the  Church  show  too  plainly,  by  their  un- 
hallowed tempers,  and  the  general  worldliness 
of  their  walk  and  conversation,  that  they  have 
never  known  what  religion  means.  They  have 
had  their  "experience,'^  centering  in  the  Anx- 
ious Bench,  on  which  they  continue  to  build 
their  profession  and  its  hopes  ;  but  farther  than 
this  they  give  no  signs  of  life.  They  have  no 
part  nor  lot  in  the  Christian  salvation. 

Notoriously,  no  conversions  are  more  preca- 
rious and  insecure  than  those  of  the  Anxious 
Bench.    They  take  place  under  such  circum- 


84  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


Stances  precisely,  as  should  make  them  the  ob- 
ject of  earnest  jealousy  and  distrust.  The  most 
ample  evidence  of  their  vanity,  is  presented  on 
every  side.  And  yet  the  patrons  of  the  system 
are  generally  ready  to  endorse  them,  as  though 
they  carried  the  broad  seal  of  heaven  on  their 
face.  Of  conversions  in  any  other  form,  they 
can  be  sufficiently  jealous.  They  think  it  well 
for  the  Church  to  use  great  caution,  in  the  case 
of  those  who  have  been  led  quietly,  under  the 
ordinary  means  of  grace  to  indulge  the  Christian 
hope.  They  shrink  perhaps  from  the  use  of  the 
Catechism  altogether,  lest  they  might  seem  to 
aim  at  a  religion  of  merely  human  manufacture. 
But  let  the  power  of  the  Anxious  Bench  appear, 
and  strange  to  tell,  their  caution  is  at  once  given 
to  the  winds.  This  they  proclaim  to  be  the  fin- 
ger of  God.  Here  the  work  of  religion  is  pre- 
sumed at  once  to  authenticate  itself  With  very 
little  instruction,  and  almost  no  examination,  all 
who  can  persuade  themselves  that  they  are  con- 
verted, are  at  once  hailed  as  brethren  and  sis- 
ters in  Christ  Jesus,  and  with  as  little  delay  as 
possible  gathered  into  the  full  communion  of 
the  Church.  And  this  is  held  to  be  building  on 
the  true  foundation  gold,  silver  and  precious 
stones,  while  such  as  try  to  make  christians  in  a 
different  way  are  regarded  as  working  mainly, 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  with  wood,  hay 
and  stubble.  Wonderful  infatuation  !  Stupen- 
dous inconsistency. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ITie  Bench  vindicated  on  insufficient  grounds : — 1.  As  brings 
ing  the  sinner  to  a  decision  ; — 2.  As  involving  him  in 
a  COMMITTAL ; — 3.  As  giving  force  to  bis  purpose  ; — 
4.  Asa  penitential  DiscivLin^  ; — 5.  As  necessary  for 
the  purposes  o/ instruction  ; — 6.  As  opening  the  way 
for  prater. 


In  view  of  such  disastrous  action  as  we  have 
now  been  called  to  ^contemplate,  we  ask  on  what 
grounds  the  use  of  the  Anxious  Bench  is  vindi- 
cated. These  should  be  of  great  force,  to  coun- 
terbalance the  weight  of  mischief  with  which  it 
is  attended.  No  divine  appointment  is  pleaded 
in  its  favor.*    We  could  not  suppose  for  a%io- 


*  A  good  deal  has  been  said  indeed  of  the  principle  of  the 
measure,  as  presented,  according^  to  its  friends,  in  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  But  Mr.  Denig  has  just  been  a» 
successful  in  vindicating  woman-preaching,  shouting,  rolling, 
&c.,  m  this  way,  as  the  editor  of  the  Lutheran  Observer  has 
been  in  justifying  the  anxious  bench.  All  fanatical  sects  are 
able  to  muster  something  from  the  bible,  which  seems  to  co- 
ver, in  sound  at  least,  ttie  principle  of  their  peculiarities.  So 
every  abuse  in  the  Church  of  Rome  came  in,  under  the  sha- 
dow of  pretended  scriptural  precedent.  Her  fasts,  her  vigils, 
her  relics,  her  penances,  &c.,  all  found  a  show  of  support  in 
the  word  of  God.  The  angelic  institute  of  monkery  was 
abundantly  commended,  by  the  same  authority.    Was  not 


86  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


ment  indeed,  that  any  appointment  of  God  could 
be  associated  with  such  bad  influences  and  ten- 
dencies, as  are  found  to  hold  in  connection  with 
this  invention.  But  it  is  not  pretended  to  make 
it  of  scriptural  authority.  It  is  vindicated  on 
other  grounds ;  with  variable  argument  to  suit 
the  occasion.  These  hoAvever,  are  by  no  means 
satisfactory. 

1.  It  serves,  we  are  told,  to  bring  awakened 
sinners  to  a  decision.  They  are  disposed  to 
avoid  this.  Thev  halt  between  two  opinions. 
They  should  not  be  allowed  to  leave  the  sanctu- 
ary in  this  state.  The  Gospel  calls  for  a  present 
determination.  It  is  well  therefore  to  shut  them 
up  to  that  point.  This  is  done  by  the  Anxious 
Bench.* 

This  sounds  well.  But  wfiat  is  it  that  the  sin- 
ner decides,  when  he  rises  and  goes  forward  to 

John  the  Baptist  a  monk  ;  and  Elijah  the  Tishbite  ;  and  Eli- 
sha  tJ^  Son  of  Shaphat ;  and  the  sons  of  the  prophets  by  Jor- 
dan ^nd  the  Rechabites ;  were  they  not  examples  in  point, 
80  far  at  least  as  the  principle  of  the  svstem  was  concerned  ? 
So  argil -^d  the  fathers  of  the  fourth  century  ;  and  it  must  be 
confessed,  with  full  as  much  reason  on  their  side,  as  the 
friends  of  New  Measures  have,  when  they  appeal  to  the  bible, 
in  like  strain,  for  the  support  ot  their  favorite  system. 

*  <'It  presents  the  conscience  with  the  true  issue,  and  in- 
vites the  sinner,  without  delay,  to  manifest  his  choice  of  God, 
by  coming  forward.  The  ^anxious  bench'  does  not  sufferthe 
smnerto  go  away  ? imply  meditating  upon  what  he  has  heird; 
to  go  away  in  a  state  of  rebellion,  &c.  But  it  calls  upon  him 
at  once  to  submit  to  God."  "Coming  to  the  ^anxious  bench* 
is  a  token  ot  submission,  and  is  used  as  a  means  wholly  to  that 
cad."— i>ai;?s'  Plea,  p,  56. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


87 


the  anxious  seat  ?  He  is  encouraged  to  come, 
singing, 

"I'll  go  to  Jesus,  though  my  sin 

Hath  like  a  mountain  rose  ; 
I  know  his  courts,  I'll  enter  in, 
Whatever  may  oppose." 

Is  this  the  decision,  which  the  movement  really 
involves  ?  Then  it  is  the  same  thing  with  con- 
version ;  the  resolution  of  the  prodigal  carried 
into  effect,  when  out  of  a  deep  sense  of  his  pov- 
erty and  misery,  he  arose  and  went  to  his  fath- 
er. And  so  much  as  this  the  considerations  by 
which  he  is  urged  tfo  come  forward,  would  seem 
to  imply.  But  when  the  point  is  pressed,  we 
learn  that  no  such  extravagant  supposition  is 
entertained.  Coming  to  the  anxious  bench  is 
not  coming  to  Christ.  The  sinner  seated  upon 
it,  is  unconverted  still ;  hangs  still  between 
Christ  and  the  world ;  and  may  still  go  away 
halting  between  two  opinions,  as  fully  as  if  he 
had  not  come  out  in  this  way  at  all.  What  shall 
we  say  of  such  a  decision  ?  A  decision  that  de- 
cides nothing?  The  apostles,  we  are  told,  insis- 
ted on  men's  coming  to  the  point  at  once  in  the 
business  of  religion,  and  we  should  do  the  same 
thing.  So  certainly  we  should.  But  is  this  such 
a  point,  as  the  apostles  were  accustomed  to 
*|)ress  ?  When  Peter  found  the  multitude  awak- 
ened on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  he  called  them  to 
an  immediate  decision.  But  what  was  the  form, 
in  which  this  was  to  be  done  ?  ^-Repent,  and 
be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of 


88  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins/'  cried 
the  preacher.  "Come/'  roars  the  modern  revi- 
val-monger, pleasing  himself  with  the  thought 
of  being  like  Peter,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
"Come,  humble  sinner,  in  whose  heart  a  thou- 
sand thoughts  revolve,  come,  come  without  de- 
lay, this  night,  this  moment,  come — to  the  altar 
or  to  the  anxious  bench.''  Alas,  for  the  par- 
allel!* If  it  &e  conversion  to  come  out  in  this 
way,  let  the  thing  be  openly  affirmed  at  once  ; 
but  if  not,  why  mock  us  by  calling  it  a  decision, 
and  pretending  to  find  precedents  for  it  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles? 

2.  But  the  ground  now  is  shifted ;  sinners  are 
not  brought  exactly  to  a  decision  by  the  Anxious 
Bench  but  they  are  brought  at  least  to  a  com- 
mittal;  and  this  is  considered  to  be  of  great  ac- 
count. Let  them  go  away  from  the  house  of 
God  without  this,  and  there  will  be  a  reason  to 
fear  that  their  seriousness  may  evaporate  before 
the  next  meeting.  We  should  take  advantage 
of  their  feelings  when  they  are  excited,  and  en~ 
gage  them,  if  possible  to  take  a  step,  by  which 
they  shall  feel  themselves  committed  to  the 
world,  as  well  as  to  their  own  consciences,  in 


*  "We  do  not  disparage  baptism,  by  comparing  it  to  the 
anxions  bench.  By  no  means;  we  regjard  it  as  a  sacrament, 
and  intended  for  high  purposes ;  but  it  also  involved  the  pre- 
cise principle  in  that  day,  that  the  anxious  bench  does  now. 
It  afforded  an  opportunity  for  a  public  manifestation,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  submitted  to  it,  of  their  determination  to  be 
Christians.  So  also  does  the  anxious  bench."  Luih.  Obs. 
Dec.  1.  1843.  Alas,  one  may  well  be  pardoned  for  whispet- 
ing,  *^Why  are  you  a  Lutheran  ?" 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


89 


favor  of  religion.  This  is  done,  when  we  get 
them  out  to  the  anxious  bench.  They  bind 
themselves  by  this  act,  to  seek  the  Lord.  The 
thing  is  known  and  talked  about.  They  feel 
themselves  bound,  and  their  shame  and  pride 
come  in  to  fortify  the  higher  influences,  by  which 
they  are  urged  to  go  forward  and  not  "draw  back 
unto  perdition.^' 

Low  and  jejune  must  be  the  conception  of  re- 
ligion, which  can  allow  such  a  view  as  this  to 
be  entertained.  It  is  well  indeed  that  sinners 
should  bind  themselves  by  an  inward  resolution, 
to  seek  the  Lord,  while  he  is  to  be  found  ;  and 
it  is  right  that  they  should  be  urged  to  do  this, 
on  all  suitable  occasions.  But  such  a  resolution, 
to  be  of  any  account,  must  proceed  from  intelli- 
gent reflection  and  inward  self-possession ;  and 
it  can  have  no  salutary  force,  except  as  enter- 
tained in  the  consciousness  of  God's  presence 
and  God's  authority,  to  the  exclusion  compara- 
tively of  all  inferior  references.  Nothing  can  be 
more  irrational,  than  to  think  of  making  the  sin- 
ner's feelings  in  this  case  a  trap  for  his  judgment, 
and  then  holding  him  fast  by  the  force  of  an 
outward  bond.  The  circumstances,  in  which 
he  is  urged  to  put  his  soul  thus  under  pledge, 
are  the  very  worst  that  could  well  be  imagined 
for  the  purpose.  Volney,  in  the  storm,  at  sea, 
was  not  more  fully  at  the  mercy  of  an  element 
beyond  himself  Death-bed  resolutions,  notori- 
ously hollow  as  they  are,  embrace  just  as  much 
rational  freedom.  The  vows  of  a  drunkard,  in 
ordinary  cases,  are  but  little  respected.  But 


W  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


here,  where  excitement,  sympathy  and  passion 
combine,  to  wrap  all  spirits  in  a  moral  tornado, 
till  the  brain  is  found  to  reel  with  the  bewilder- 
ing, intoxicating  element  that  surrounds  it,  the 
greatest  account  is  made  of  such  engagements, 
and  every  art  is  employed  to  secure  them,  even 
from  hysterical  girls  if  need  be,^  that  they  may 
feel  themselves  bound  subsequently  to  "follow 
on  to  know  the  Lord/^  A  large  proportion  of 
such  resolutions  must  necessarily  be  without  in- 
ward force  ;  and  now  the  sense  of  the  commit- 
tal is  indeed  required  to  sustain  the  solemn  step 
which  has  been  taken.  But  what  is  this,  in  such 
circumstances,  but  the  substitutionof  low  world- 
ly references,  as  far  as  it  prevails,  for  that  con- 
sciousness of  the  souPs  relations  to  God,  in  which 
alone,  as  we  have  already  seen,  any  resolution 
of  this  sort  can  truly  stand.  So  far  exactly  as 
the  anxious  person  may  be  swayed  by  the 
thought  of  consistency,  credit,  or  any  similar 
interest,  in  continuing  to  seek  rehgion,  the  true 
posture  of  conviction  is  wanting  altogether. 
"How  can  ye  believe,"  said  Christ,  "which  re- 
ceive honor  one  of  another,  and  seek  not  the 
honor  that  cometh  from  God  only."  A  reigning 
respect  to  the  authority  of  the  world,  under  any 
form  disqualifies  the  soul  for  transacting  honest- 
ly in  the  great  interest  of  religion. 

In  a  multitude  of  instances,  these  committals 
are  followed  by  a  reaction,  in  the  minds  of  those 


*  *'Have  not  hysterical  girls  souls  to  be  saved  ?"  Luth. 
Obs.  Dec.  15,  1843.  After  due  reflection,  it  seems  necessa- 
ry to  answer  this  searching  interrogation  in  the  affirmative. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  91 


who  are  drawn  into  them,  of  the  most  unhap- 
py kmd.  They  fall  back  openly  to  the  worlds 
but  not  without  a  feeling  of  humiliation  and 
spite,  in  the  recollection  of  their  own  weakness ; 
and  their  state  subsequently  is  worse  than  it  was 
before.  In  the  case  of  many  others,  the  commit- 
tal has  its  force  no  doubt,  in  carrying  them  for- 
ward, till  they  get  fully  into  the  Church  ;  and 
their  profession  possibly  may  have  the  same 
power,  to  hold  them  to  the  forms  of  religion  af- 
terwards, even  to  the  end  of  life.  But  it  is  for 
the  most  part  a  false  hope,  to  which  they  are 
thus  conducted.  The  Church,  in  this  way,  is 
filled  with  hypocrites,  and  not  with  true  con- 
verts. 

3.  But  the  ground  may  be  slightly  shifted 
again,  so  as  to  present  the  measure,  not  in  the 
light  exactly  of  a  bond  upon  the  sinner's  soul, 
but  as  a  prop  and  support  rather  to  his  weak- 
ness. A  first  step  often  costs  more  than  a  hun- 
dred that  follow.  A  world  of  hesitation,  in  cer- 
tain circumstances,  is  surmounted  by  a  single 
eff'ort  to  move.  The  sinner,  when  first  awaken- 
ed, shrinks  from  making  his  case  known,  and 
his  concern,  pent  up  in  his  own  bosom,  is  not 
hkely  to  be  as  strong  and  active,  as  it  would  be 
if  it  could  appear  in  an  outward  form.  Let  him 
come  then  to  the  altar  or  the  anxious  bench. 
The  man  who  signs  a  temperance  pledge,  finds 
his  resolution  to  be  sober  supported  by  the  act. 
Hundreds  of  drunkards  have  been  enabled  in 
this  way  to  reform  completely,  who  without  this 
help,  would  have  had  no  power  to  rise. 


92  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


This  is  plausible ;  but  it  will  not  bear  exami- 
nation. A  first  step  is  of  great  account  in  reli- 
gion ;  but  only  where  it  springs  freely  from  the 
will ;  which  it  cannot  do  without  reflection  and 
self-command.  An  outward  engagement  to  seek 
the  Lord  can  be  of  no  use,  without  a  certain 
measure  of  intelligent  conviction  at  work  within;, 
and  where  this  is  present,  it  will  not  be  difficult 
to  secure  whatever  may  be  proper  or  desirable 
in  the  other  form,  without  having  recourse  to 
an  expedient  so  full  of  danger.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  spiritual  policy  of  the  Romish  Church  to  en- 
tice those  who  are  serious,  by  means  of  vows, 
into  positions  from  which  they  cannot  draw  back, 
with  the  view  of  thus  establishing  them  in  the 
purpose  of  a  religious  life.  But  we  all  know 
how  little  is  gained  in  the  Romish  Church,  by 
this  policy.  It  is  true  indeed,  that  a  drunkard 
may  sign  the  temperance  pledge,  even  when  he 
is  drunk,  and  afterwards  keep  it.  But  there  is 
a  vast  diff'erence  between  the  object  of  the  tem- 
perance pledge,  and  that  which  it  is  proposed 
to  reach  by  means  of  the  Anxious  Bench.  The 
one  is  fully  within  the  compass  of  human  will  and 
human  strength ;  the  other  is  beyond  it  entire- 
ly.*   The  one  may  be  mastered  in  the  flesh; 


*  Mr.  Finney  holds  the  pledgee  in  the  one  case,  a  fair  exem- 
plification of  the  advantas'e  gained  hy  bringinar  a  sinner  to  the 
bench,  in  the  other.  The  idea  is  quoted  also  with  approba- 
tion, by  the  Lutheran  Observer,  Dec.  1.  1843  Mr.  Davis 
finds  gross  heresy,  antinomianism,  fatalism,  &c.,  in  the 
statement  of  the  tract,  jtist  at  this  point,  Plea,  p.  50 — 54. 
He  speaks  forth  boldly  the  error,  that  lies  wrapped  up  in  the 
very  heart  and  core  of  the  system  he  represents.    **Does  the 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  93 


the  other  cannot  be  approached  or  understood, 
except  in  the  spirit.  In  any  case  however, 
vows  and  pledges  that  spring  from  excitement 
rather  than  reflection,  are  to  be  considered  fanat- 
ical, and  as  such  neither  rational  nor  free ;  and 
though  in  certain  cases,  men  may  seem  to  be 
strengthened  and  supported  by  them,  in  the 
pro«ecution  of  good  ends  belonging  to  a  lower 
sphere,  they  are  ever  to  be  deprecated  in  the 
sphere  of  rehgion,  as  tending  only  to  delusion 
and  sin. 

4.  The  measure  is  sometimes  recommended 
on  the  ground,  that  it  is  well  suited  to  humble 
and  break  the  sinner^s  pride.  The  carnal  mind 
is  not  willing  to  stoop  to  the  shame  of  the  cross, 
in  the  view  of  a  sinful  world.  It  is  ditiicult,  at  ^  ^ 
the  same  time,  to  bjring  it  to  a  clear  sight  of 
this-  fact,  in  its  ov/n  case.  But  the  anxious 
bench  reduces  the  question  to  a  present  point. 
If  unwilling  to  stoop  to  the  self-denial  involv- 
ed in  coming  to  this,  how  can  the  awakened 
person  be  willing  to  do  anything  that  religion 
requires.  Thus  the  pride  and  wickedness  of 
the  heart,  in  relation  to  the  gospel,  are  forced 
home  upon  the  individual's  consciousness ;  and 
when  at  length,  under  the  pressure  of  this  con- 
viction, he  goes  forward  and  joins  himself  openly 
with  the  anxious,  his  pride  is  prostrated,  and 


sinner  submit  to  God,"  it  is  asked  with  an  air  of  triumph,  **or 
does  the  Holy  Ghost  ?"  The  only  proper  answer  to  such  a 
question  is,  The  Holy  Ghost  in  the  sinner,  or  the  sinner  as 
born  of  the  Spirit  in  Christ,  submits  to  God.  Any  view  that 
stops  short  of  this  is  rotten  as  pelagianism  itself. 


^  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 

he  is  no  longer  ashamed  to  appear  earnestly  con- 
cerned for  the  salvation  of  his  soul. 

But  it  is  easy  to  see,  that  on  the  same  princi- 
ciple  any  test  which  might  be  imagined,  for  the 
same  purpose,  could  be  justified  with  equal 
ease.  The  sinner  might  be  required  to  sit  at 
the  church  door,  clothed  in  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
begging  an  interest  in  the  piayers  of  all  the,  en- 
tering worshippers  ;  or  to  travel  through  all  the 
aisles  of  the  church  itself,  on  his  knees,  in  token 
of  his  humiliation.  If  unwilling  to  bend  to  such 
a  requirement,  how  should  he  be  counted  truly 
in  earnest,  with  respect  to  the  main  point  1  In 
this  way,  the  whole  system  of  Romish  penance 
might  challenge  our  respect.  In  truth,  however, 
no  account  is  to  be  made  of  any  such  outward 
demonstration,  as  a  test  or  token  of  the  sinner^s 
feelings,  in  the  particular  view  now  considered  ! 
Popish  penances  involve  commonly  no  spiritual 
mortification,  and  have  no  tendency  whatever 
to  reconcile  men  to  the  reproach  of  Christ.  The 
sinner  may  be  brought  to  lick  the  dust,  if  need 
be,  under  the  pressure  of  an  alarmed  conscience, 
without  a  particle  of  that  inward  humiliation  be- 
fore God,  which  the  idea  of  religion  demands. 
So  it  is  possible,  and  no  doubt  exceedingly  com- 
mon, for  persons  to  take  their  seat  on  the  anxious 
bench,  with  very  little  if  any  feeling  at  all,  of 
this  sort.  Where  the  idea  prevails  that  there  is 
religion,  to  some  extent,  in  the  very  act  itself  of 
coming  out  in  this  way,  hundreds  may  easily  be 
engaged  to  do  so,  just  as  under  parallel  circum- 
stances they  might  be  engaged    to  flagellate 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


95 


themselves  publicly  through  the  streets,  without 
the  least  benefit  in  the  way  of  a  conquest  over 
their  carnal  pride.  In  some  cases,  the  occupan- 
cy of  the  bench  may  indeed  be  attended  with 
the  wholesome  discipline  of  humiUation,  in  the 
way  supposed,  preparing  the  spirit  to  follow 
Jesus  "without  the  camp,  bearing  his  reproach 
but4t  is  just  as  certain,  that  the  same  result  has 
been  secured,  in  some  cases,  by  the  penitential 
castigations  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  or  the  wil- 
ful self-inflictions  of  fanaticism,  in  its  worst 
forms.  Where  the  soul  is  already  prepared  for 
spiritual  humiliation,  either  the  scourge  or  the 
bench,  if  duly  accredited  to  the  mourner's  con- 
science as  the  power  of  God  for  the  purpose, 
may  serve  as  an  occasion  to  promote  this 
end.  This  is  no  reason  however,  why  we 
should  have  recourse  to  one  or  the  other,  in  seek- 
ing to  advance  the  interests  of  religion.  There 
is  no  direct  adaptation  in  either,  to  produce 
evangelical  humiliation.  They  are  suited  rather, 
as  has  been  shown  already  in  the  case  of  the 
bench,  to  blind  the  soul  to  the  true  natvire  of 
such  humiliation,  by  fixing  its  attention  unduly 
on  outward  references  and  outward  acts,  and 
challenging  it  to  a  vnJful  more  than  to  a  willing 
service.  It  were  well  to  remember  here,  what 
the  apostle  says  most  profoundly  on  the  subject 
of  all  such  "will-worship,''  with  its  "show  of 
wisdom,"  at  the  close  of  the  second  chapter  of 
his  epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

5.  But  again  the  use  of  the  Anxious  Bench  is 
vindicated,  as  affording  an  opportunity  for  meet* 


96 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH, 


ing  the  case  of  awakened  sinners  with  suitable 
instruction.  When  they  are  called  out  in  this 
way,  they  become  known.  They  can  be  ad- 
dressed collectiveh^^  and  conversed  with  indi- 
vidually. What  they  need  is  particular  instruc- 
tion, suited  to  their  particular  states.  It  is  not 
by  dashmg  water  in  a  large  way  over  a  congre- 
gation of  empty  bottles,  that  a  minister  car!  ex- 
pect to  get  even  a  few  of  them  filled  ;  if  he 
would  labor  to  any  purpose,  he  must  comedown, 
and  take  each  bottle  separately  by  the  neck,  and 
pom'  the  water  in  according  to  the  capacity  of 
its  mouth. 

But  when  we  look  a  little  into  the  matter,  we 
shall  find  this  object  of  instruction  reduced  to 
a  perfect  farce.  There  are  two  ways,  in  which 
the  occupants  of  an  Anxious  Bench  may  be  ad- 
dressed. What  is  said,  may  be  spoken  to  all  at 
once,  or  they  may  be  taken  one  by  one  in  suc- 
cession. If  there  are  too  many  for  the  minister 
to  manage  himself  in  this  way,  he  may  engage 
others  to  take  part  with  him  in  the  work.  This 
must  be  considered  the  method  most  congenial 
with  the  idea  of  the  system.  For  the  object, 
we  are  told,  is  to  make  instruction  particu- 
lar and  specific ;  and  how  can  this  be  accom- 
plished so  well  as  by  taking  each  case  separate- 
ly ?  It  is  customary  accordingly,  when  the 
anxious  are  fairly  in  their  place,  for  the  process 
of  instruction  to  commence  in  this  way.  The 
minister  comes  to  one,  the  first  on  the  bench,  and 
benduig  forward  proceeds  in  a  low  voice  to  ask  a 
question  or  two  with  regard  to  the  person's  spir- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


97 


itual  condition.  These  are  answered  commonly 
in  the  most  general  and  confused  way.  Then 
follows  a  short  exhortation,  for  the  most  part, 
in  the  same  general  strain.  The  whole  confer- 
ence may  not  last  more  than  some  three  or  four 
minutes  ;  for  there  are  a  number  to  be  conversed 
with  ;  and  regard  must  be  had,  at  the  same 
time,  to  the  patience  of  the  congregation.  So  the 
ceremony  passes  forward  to  a  second,  and  then 
to  a  third,  and  so  on,  till  all  have  their  turn. 
And  this  is  called  spiritual  instruction  !  If  a 
physician  were  seen  handling  a  dozen  of  pa- 
tients in  the  same  style,  the  spectacle  might  well 
call  for  derision.  But  after  all,  it  wbuld  be  no 
Such  mummery  as  we  have  here.  One  of  the 
most  difficult  and  delicate  functions  a  minister  is 
called  to  perform,  js  that  of  giving  counsel  to 
awakened  sinners.-  None  calls  for  more  caution 
and  discrimination.  It  is  hard  to  ascertain  cor- 
rectly the  state  of  the  spiritual  patient,  and  hard 
to  suit  the  prescription  wisely  to  his  particular 
wants.  It  is  so,  where  there  may  be  the  fullest 
opportunity  for  free,  calm  investigation,  in  the 
family  visit,  or  in  a  private  interview.  But 
here,  where  all  surrounding  influences  conspire 
to  complicate  the  difficulty  to  the  greatest  extent, 
in  the  midst  of  commotion  without  and  commo- 
tion within,  it  is  pretended  to  dispose  6{  a  dozen 
such  cases  perhaps  in  the  course  of  half  an  hour. 
And  to  make  the  matter  worse,  if  theritimberof 
the  an  xious  be  considerable,  this,  that,  and  the 
other  helper  is  called  in,  some  crude  exhorter 
perhaps,  some  strippling  student  just  starting  on 
7 


98 


THE  A^^XIOUS  BENGH. 


his  way  towards  the  ministry,  or  some  forward' 
novice,  himself  still  in  the  swaddling  clothes  of 
I     the  new  birth,  to  take  part  in  the  solemn  ghost- 
\     ly  work,  under  the  same  form.    And  is  it  pos- 
I      sible,  that  sensible  men,  in  the  fair  use  of  their 
senses,  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  absurdity' 
of  such  a  process  ?    The  only  fair  parallel  to  it, 
,     in  the  medical  sphere,  would  be  the  mockery  ot 
|!     tiuree  or  four  raw  practitioners  going  the  rounds 
of  a  hospital,  and  administering  to  fifty  cases  of 
diversified  diseases,  within  the  same  time,  as 
I     many  doses  of  Thompson's  mixture,  Number 
I     Six,    In  the  latter  case,  the  thing  would  be 
\     counted  and  called  quackery  of  the  first  degree 
and  it  is  hard  to  see  why  it  should  go  mider  any 
softer  appellation  in  the  former.    The  only  dif-. 
ference  miglit  seem  to  be,  in  the  solemnity  of 
the  interests  involved  in  the  two  diflerent  circles 
of  action.    The  Thompsoiiian  tampers  only  witli 
the  life  of  the  body,  while  the  spiritual  practi- 
tioner plays  blindly  with  the  precious  life  of  the 
soul. 

If  '^'profitable  for  instruction''  at  all  then,  the 
Anxious  Bench  must  be  made  subservient  to^ 

I'     this  end,  in  a  different  way.    Considering  the- 
circumstances  of  the  case,  the  only  rational 
course  with. a  company  thus  brought  forward., 
is  to  spend  the  few  minutes  that  can  be  devoted 
to  them,  in  counsels  and  exhortations  addres- 

\     sed  to  them  collectively.    Let  it  not  be  said. 

'  that  such  instructions  must  needs  lack  poiat. 
The  cases  of  the  truly  awakened  are  always  suf- 
ficiently near  alike,  to  adroit  of  a  large  amount^ 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCm  99 


of  most  pointed  and  pertinent  direction  in  the 
same  form  for  all;  and  one  who  is  truly  a  well 
instructed  scribe  in  the  Gospel,  will  be  able  to 
address  an  Anxious  Bench  to  much  more  pur- 
pose in  this  way,  than  it  he  were  to  pass  round  di- 
recting a  few  remarks  to  each  one  separately. 
But  is  it  necessary  to  call  them  out  from  the^ 
congregation,  for  this  purpose  ?  The  same 
truths  may  just  as  well  be  presented  to  inquirers, 
as  included  in  the  general  audience,  and  it  might, 
reasonably  be  expected,  in  the  case  of  the  truly 
serious,  with  much  better  effect.  But  is  it  not 
desirable,  we  are  asked,  to  have  inquirers  to^ 
gether  by  themselves  !  No  doubt,  there  may 
be  an  advantage  in  this.  But  let  it  be  with  fit- 
ting time  and  place ;  not  under  circumstances, 
which  can  hardly  fail  to  obstruct  and  defeat  all 
the  purposes,  that  should  be  aimed  at  in  the 
case.* 

The  Anxious  Bench  is  of  no  account,  in  any 
view,  as  a  help  to  instruction  ;  and  it  is  not  hard 


*  "Let  it  not  be  said,  that  inviting  to  "anxious  seats"  i& 
the  only  effectual  method  of  ascertaining,  who  are  under  seri- 
ous impressions,  and  who  are  not.  Why  is  it  not  quite  as  ef- 
fectual to  give  a  public  invitation  to  all  \^  ho  are  in  any  degree 
seriously  impressed,  or  anxious,  to  remain  alter  the  congie- 
gation  is  dismissed,  or  to  meet  their  pastor  the  next  evening, 
an  some  convenient  apartment,  for  the  purpose  of  disclosing 
their  feelings,  and  of  being  made  the  subjects  of  instruction 
and  prayer.  Nay,  why  is  not  the  latter  method  very  much 
prelerable  to  the  lormer?  It  sorely  gives  quite  as  good  an 
opportunity  to  ascertain  numbers,  and  to  distinguish  person» 
and  cases.  It  affords  a  far  better  opportunity,  to  give  distinct 
and  appropriate  instruction  to  particular  individuals." — J9y«\ 
Miller.    Letter  t<iDr,  Spragm. 


100  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


to  perceive,  that  as  a  general  thing,  where  it  is 
used,  this  does  not  form  in  reahty  its  main  re- 
commendation, in  the  eyes  of  its  friends.  It  may 
be  convenient  to  advocate  the  use  of  the  meas- 
ure on  this  ground,  and  consistency  will  require 
always  some  show  of  improving  it  accordingly. 
The  anxious,  in  one  way  or  another,  must  be 
instructed  and  directed  after  they  have  come  out. 
But  just  at  this  point,  there  is  apt  to  appear  a 
sort  of  giving  way  in  the  general  pressure  of  the 
occasion,  as  though  the  main  object  of  it  had 
been  already  reached,  in  the  coming  out  itself. 
It  often  happens,  that  a  very  short  exhortation 
is  allowed  to  wind  up  the  whole  scene  ;  or  it  be- 
comes evident  that  the  conversation  with  the 
anxious  is  protracted,  amid  the  flagging  interest 
of  the  congregation,  with  mechanical  rather  than 
with  living  force.  This,  where  order  and  sobri- 
ety still  continue  to  assert  their  proper  rights,  in 
the  feelings  of  the  people.  Where  that  is  not 
the  case,  it  will  be  contrived  to  keep  up  the  ex- 
citement still,  in  connection  with  the  show  of 
instruction,  in  such  way  that  this  last  shall  come 
but  little  into  view,  while  all  stress  is  laid  upon 
the  first.  The  anxious  then  are  encouraged  to 
weep  aloud,  cry  out  and  wring  their  hands. 
Now  they  are  enveloped  in  the  loud  tones  of 
some  stimulating  spiritual  song.  Then  there  is 
prayer,  which  soon  becomes  as  loud;  commenc- 
ing perhaps  with  a  single  voice,  but  flowing 
quickly  into  a  sea  of  tumultuating  sounds,  irom 
which  no  sense  can  be  extracted  even  by  tbe 
keenest  ear.    The  mourners  besiege  the  "altar/' 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


101 


pell-mell,  kneeling,  or  it  may  be  floimdering 
fiat  upon  the  floor,  and  all  joining  in  the  general 
noise.  Then  may  be  heard  perhaps  the  voice 
of  the  preacher,  shouting  some  commonplace 
word  of  exhortation,  which  nobody  hears  or  re- 
gards ;  while  at  different  points,  vague,  crude 
expostulations  and  directions  are  poured  into  the 
ears  of  the  struggling  suppUants,  by  ^^brethren,^^ 
now  suddenly  transformed  into  spiritual  coun- 
sellors, who  might  be  at  a  loss  themselves  to 
explain,  at  any  other  time,  a  single  point  in 
religion.  In  due  time,  one  and  another  are 
brought  through  ;  and  thus  new  forms  of  dis- 
order, shouting,  clapping,  &c.,  are  brought  into 
play.  In  this  way,  the  interest  of  the  occasion, 
such  as  it  is,  may  be  kept  up  till  a  late  hour. 
But  who  will  pr^etend  to  say,  that  instruction 
has  been  regarded  or  intended,  as  a  leading  ob- 
ject in  any  part  of  the  process  ? 

6.  Lastly,  it  is  said  that  the  anxious  should 
be  called  out,  in  order  that  fhey  may  be  made 
the  subjects  of  They  need  the  prayers 

of  the  Church  ;  and  the  church,  it  maj^^  be  sup- 
posed, has  a  heart  to  plead  with  God  in  their 
behalf.  But  how  shall  this  be,  if  they  are  not 
known  ?  By  the  Anxious  Bench  they  are 
brought  into  view,  piteously  seeking  an  interest 
in  the  prayers  of  God's  people  ;  whose  bowels 
of  compassion  cannot  fail  to  be  stirred  by  the 
spectacle. 

This  might  seem  to  be  the  great  object,  in  the 
case  of  such  methodistical  displays  as  we  have 
jjUst  had  under  observation.    But  scenes  of  this 


102  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


sort  have  no  tendency  to  stimulate  the  spirit  of 
prayer.  They  form  an  element,  unfriendly  if 
not  absolutely  fatal  to  the  true  idea  of  devotion. 
This  is  evident  generally,  from  a  certain  charac- 
ter of  irreverence,  often  grossly  profane,  that  is 
sure  to  put  itself  forward  in  such  circumstances, 
in  proportion  exactly  to  the  strength  of  the  reign- 
ing  excitement.  And  in  any  case,  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  more  is  lost  than  gained  for 
the  anxious,  as  it  regards  this  interest,  by  the  com- 
motion necessarily  connected  with  their  move- 
ment to  the  anxious  bench.  It  is  a  suspicious 
kind  of  prayer  at  best  that  can  be  engaged,  in 
such  circumstances,  only  by  the  sis^ht  of  its  ob- 
jects, theatrically  paraded  to  produce  effect, 
without  the  power  of  a  more  general  interest. 
But  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  awakened  should 
be  unknown,  in  the  church  to  which  they  be- 
long. They  may  be  discovered  without  the  aid 
of  the  Anxious  Bench,  and  can  be  carried  so  up- 
on the  hearts  of  God's  people,  in  the  sanctuary 
and  in  the  closet,  with  an  interest  far  more  deep 
and  active,  than  any  that  is  produced  in  the 
other  way. 

I  know  of  no  other  ground,  than  those  which 
have  now  been  considered,  on  which  the  use  of 
the  Anxious  Bench  can  be  vindicated  with  any 
plausible  defence.  And  as  these  separately  taken 
have  no  force,  so  neither  can  they  be  allowed 
to  weigh  any  thing  collectively,  against  the  con- 
demnation, in  which  the  system  is  properly  in- 
volved. 


The  system  of  the  bench  tends  to  disorder, — Connects  itself 
readily  with  a  vulgar  and  irreverent  style  in  religion, — 
Women  praying  in  public, — Injiuence  unfavorable  to 
deep,  earnest  piety. -**Relation  of  the  system  to  that  of 
the  Catechism. 


The  Anxious  Bench  tends  naturally  to  disor- 
'der.  Where  any  considerable  excitement  pre- 
vails, it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  measure  to 
be  apphed,  without  confusion  and  commotion. 
It  is  common  indeed  to  have  it  said,  in  the  ac- 
counts given  afterwards  of  such  occasions,  that 
they  were  conducted  in  a  quiet  and  orderly  way. 
Biit  the  true  idea  of  quiet  and  order,  is  apt  not 
to  be  understood ;  for  it  not  unfrequently  hap- 
pens, that  these  accounts  themselves,  in  close 
connection  with  stich  a  statement,  present  evi- 
dence sufficient  to  show  it  not  strictly  correct.* 


*  "In  giving  accounts  of  similar  visitations  of  mfrcy  in 
other  places,  our  correspondents  sometimes  take  especial  care 
to  let  us  know  that  all  things  were  done  "decently  and  in 
order.'*  It  by  this  is  meant  that  all  was  quiet,  and  conducted 
with  measured  propriety  and  entire  legard  to  the  prejudice  of 
those  who  are  opposed  to  religious  excitements  ;  then  we  can- 
not say  so  much  of  the  revival  in  church.    For  there 

was  noise  there  not  a  little,  meatured  propriety  not  much, 


104  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


Some  appear  to  think,  that  there  is  no  disorder 
at  such  tinxes,  unless  it  comes  to  loud  noise  and 
gross  confusion,  in  the  style  of  the  Methodists. 
But  the  proper  order  of  the  sanctuary  may  be 
seriously  unsettled,  long  before  it  has  gone  so 
far  as  this.  The  measure  involves  irregularity 
to  some  extent,  in  its  very  nature,  and  opens 
the  way  for  extravagance.  It  is  always  ready 
accordingly  to  run  into  disorder.  It  leads  natu- 
rally, if  encouraged,  to  more  striking  deviations 

&c."  Luth.  Obs.  Nov.  11,  1842.— "We  had  no  confusion, 
but  considerable  noise — and,  dear  br.  how  could  it  be  other- 
wise ?  Fifty  and  sixty  soais  crying  to  God  for  mercy,  some 
finding  peace  and  praising  God,  Christian?  conversing  with, 
and  praying  for  raourners,  &c.''  Corresp.  Liiih.  Obs.,  ^pr. 
14,  1843. — The  following  would  seem  to  be  quite  orderly. 
"On  one  occasion  the  whole  church,  that  is  the  mass  of  pro- 
fessors of  religion  who  were  present,  came  forward  in  a  body, 
including  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  married,  and  un- 
married, and  prostrating  themselves  around  the  altar  and  in 
the  aisles,  renewed  tlieir  covenant  with  God  and  solemnly 
pledged  themselves  to  increased  etforts  for  the  conversion  ot 
the  impenitent."  D^-c.  2,  1842.  Also  the  following  as  report- 
ed, ^pr.  7,  1843,  by  one  who  has  written  a  book  on  revivalSo 
Mr.  S.,  a  very  moral  and  worthy  man,  "became  awakened 
and  converted  in  his  O  An  house,  just  the  night  before  our 
meeting  commenced."  The  next  evening,  when  the  call  was 
given  for  the  anxious  to  come  forward,  he  passed  up  to  the 
altar,  and  asked  leave  to  speak.  This  granted,  he  ciied,  out* 
"O  my  old  companions  and  friends,  who  of  you  will  now 
come  and  take  me  by  the  hand,  and  go  to  heaven  with  me  S 
Last  night  at  midnight,  God  blessed  my  soul,  and  1  must  now 
tell  you  what  he  has  done  for  me!"  The  effect  was  electric. 
"Where  are  you  my  brethren  who  have  covenanted  with  God?" 
he  asked  asjain.  ^'Instantly  there  was  a  general  rush  from 
all  parts  of  the  house,  and  1  suppose  every  male  member  in 
the  church  came  up  to  the  altar  to  grasp  our  dear  br.  by  the 
hand,  and  covenanted  to  go  to  heaven  together.  O  what  a 
scene  !  We  all  wept  together.— It  happened  the  first  night, 
of  our  reeling,  and  a  most  glorious  revival  followed," 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  105 


from  the  line  of  Christian  sobriety.  It  forms 
the  threshhold  properly  to  the  whole  system  of 
New  Measures.  We  may  pretend  to  draw  a 
line  between  it  and  other  more  noisy  and  disor- 
derly ibrrns  of  action,  but  the  line  will  be  an  ar- 
bitrary one,  separating  things  that  after  all  are 
inwardly  related.  The  general  principle  of  the 
Anxious  Bench,  and  its  proper  soul,  are  sub- 
stantially the  principle  and  soul  of  the  entire  sys- 
tem to  which  it  belongs.  Let  it  be  considered 
orderly  and  edifying  to  call  out  the  anxious  in 
this  way,  and  why  should  they  not  be  encoura- 
ged as  well  to  surround  the  altar  on  their  knees, 
or  to  lay  themselves  down  in  token  of.  their  hu- 
miliation in  the  dust  ?  If  one  measure  of  irreg- 
ularity and  noise  may  be  allowed  on  the  princi- 
ple that  we  should  gire  room  to  the  Spirit,  why 
should  not  a  larger  amount  of  the  same  be  toler- 
ated on  the  same  plea  ?  "Should  man  enforce 
^decent^  silence^' — asks  the  Editor  of  the  Luthe- 


*  "If  I  were  to  place  myself  on  what  i3  called  an  anxious 
seat^  or  should  kneel  down  before  a  whole  congregation  To  be 
prayed  for,  I  know  that  I  should  be  stran-^ely  agitated,  bdt  I 
do  not  believe  that  it  would  be  of  any  pernaanenl  utility.  But 
if  it  should  produce  some  good  efject,  am  I  at  liberty  to  resort 
to  anything  in  the  worship  of  God,  which  1  think  will  bo  use- 
ful ?  If  such  things  are  lawful  and  useful,  why  not  add  other 
circumstances,  to  increase  the  effect  ?  Why  not  reqsjiiothe 
penitent  to  appear  in  a  white  sheet,  or  to  be  clothed  in  sack 
cloth,  with  ashes  on  his  head?  and,  these,  remember,  are 
Scriptural  signs  ot  humiliation.  And-  q-n  these  principles, 
who  can  reasonably  object  to  hoiy  water,  ta  incense,  and  the 
use  ot  pictures  or  images  in  the  worship  cfj  God  ?  All  these 
things  came  into  the  Church  upon  the  samp  principle,  of  de- 
vising neio  measures  to  do  good."  Thoughts  on  Religious  Ex. 
periencei  by  Dr.  Alexander,  Page  72. 


106  *rm:  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


ran  Observer,  in  view  of  a  scene  where  "cruslr-' 
ed  sinners/^  it  is  said,  ^^prostrate  upon  their 
knees,  lay  scattered  around  the  altar,  the  females 
in  one  group  and  the  males  in  another,^'  and 
the  united  tones  of  all  together,  reminded  him 
of  the  noise  of  many  waters-— "Should  man  en- 
force ^decent'  silence  when  God^s  power  had 
produced  ^strong  crying  and  tears  V  Should  we 
prescribe  limits  to  the  workings  of  drvine  grace, 
and  say  to  the  swelling  waves  of  overwhelming 
contrition,  thus  far  shall  ye  come  and  no  fur- 
ther The  apology  was  intended  to  cover  ot> 
ly  a  certain  measure  of  noise  and  confusion. 
But  it  is  of  sufficient  breadth  plainly  for  any  ex- 
tent of  extravagance,  We  may  be  pleased  to 
imagine.  The  most  frantic  disciple  of  Wine- 
brenner  could  ask  no  more,  to  justify  his  greats 
est  outrages  on  common  decency  and  common 
sense.  Screaming,  shouting,  jumping,  tuml> 
ling,  and  in  one  word,  the  whole  wildfire  of 
fanaticism,  including  the  "holy  laugh,'^  and 
^the  "holy  grin,^^  might  be  vindicated  in  the 
same  way.  Only  let  persons  persuade  them- 
selves that  the  "power  of  God''  within  them 
y/it^^/ reveal  itself  in  this  style,  and  all  becomes 
at  once  rational  and  right.  For  there  are  diver- 
sities of  operations  ;  and  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, that  "rules  of  propriety  are  convention* 
al  and  often  very  arbitrary  things,  and  so  is 
taste  ;  what  is  thought  decent  in  one  community 
may  be  deemed  very  disorderly  in  another 5 
what  is  grating  discord  to  one  ear,  may  be 
•charming  concord  to  another/^    Even  Mr. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  107 


Winebrenner  himself,  when  interrogated  on  the 
subject  of  noise,  only  answers,  "What  is  from 
heaven  I  approve  of,  but  what  is  from  men  I 
^disapprove  of;''  though  he  goes  on  immediately 
to  sanction  "loud  groaning,  crying,  shouting, 
•clapping  of  hands,  jumping,  falling  4own,  &c.'' 
as  forms  in  which  a  divine  influence  maybe  ex- 
pected at  times  to  work.  Still  he  "has  no  incli- 
nation to  justify  all  sorts  of  noise  and  bodily  ex- 
ercises." The  truth  is,  as  already  said,  that  no 
satisfactory  stopping  place  can  be  found,  in  the 
system  of  New  Measures.  It  has  a  life  and 
spirit  of  its  own,  that  begin  to  be  developed  in 
the  simple  Anxious  Bench,  and  naturally  flow 
onward  from  that  point,  to  the  very  worst  ex- 
cesses. Good  men  may  try  to  hold  the  stream 
in  check,  some  at  one  point  and  some  at  anoth- 
er ;  but  it  will  not  consent  to  be  held  within  the 
limits  imposed  upon  it  by  their  sense  of  propri- 
ety. It  claims  to  have  its  origin  in  heaven,  and 
who  in  such  case  shall  presume  to  say  to  it, 
Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  farther,  and 
here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed  ? 

As  the  spirit  of  the  Anxious  Bench  tends  to 
disorder,  so  it  connects  itself  also  naturally  and 
/readily  with  a  certain  vulgarism  of  feeling  in 
religion,  that  is  always  injurious  to  the  worship 
of  God,  and  often  shows  itself  absolutely  irrev- 
^erent  and  profane.  True  religious  feeling  is  in- 
ward and  deep  ;  shrinks  from  show  ;  forms  the 
I  -mind  to  a  subdued  humble  habit.  "The  language 
of  experience  is,"  says  one  whose  word  should 
have  weight,  "that tt  is  unsafe  and  unwise  to  bring 


[ 


108  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


persons,  who  are  under  religious  impressionsJ^ 
too  much  into  public  view.  The  seed  of  tha 
word,  like  the  natural  seed,  does  not  vegetate 
well  in  the  sun.^'  We  may  say  then  that  there 
is  a  measure  of  rudeness  connected  with  this 
particular  style  of  action  in.  the  Church,  from  th@, 
very  nature  of  the  case.  It  is  a  wrong  feeling  in^ 
this  respect  that  makes  it  seem  desirable  at  all,' 
that  awakened  persons  should  be  dragged  thu!S| 
theatrically  into  public  view  ;  and  the  process 
is  well  suited  to  generate  wrong  feelings,  under 
the  same  form,  in  those  who  are  subjected  to  it% 
rough  operation.  The  circumstances  of  such  ai]^ 
occasion  are  by  no  means  favorable  to  true  mr\ 
ward  solemnity,  such  as  causes  the  heart  to  exr< 
claim.  How  awfai  is  this  place  !  High  excite-, 
ment  always  tends  to  destroy  men's  reverence* 
for  God  and  sacred  things.  And  so  this  "high 
pressure'"  system,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  in 
proportion  as  it  prevails,  is  always  found  to. 
work.  It  gives  rise  to  a  stvle  of  preaching, 
which  is  often  rude  and  coarse,  as  well  as  un- 
commonly vapid ;  and  creates  an  appetite  for 
such  false  aliment,  with  a  corresponding  want 
of  taste  for  true  and  solid  instruction.  All  is 
made  to  tell  upon  the  one  single  object  of  effect.^ 
The  pulpit  is  transformed,  more  or  less,  into  a 
stage.  Divine  things  are  so  popularized,  as  to. 
be  at  last  shorn  of  their  dignity  as  well  as  their 
mystery.  Anecdotes  and  stories  are  plentifully-, 
retailed,  often  in  low,  familiar,  flippant  stylev, 
Roughness  is  substituted  for  strength,  and  para-c 
do.x  for  point.    The  preacher  feels  himself^  and| 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  109 


is  bent  on  making  himself  felt  also  by  the  con- 
gregation ;  but  God  is  not  felt  in  the  same  pro- 
portion. In  many  cases,  self-will  and  mere 
human  passion,  far  more  than  faith  or  true  zeal 
for  the  conversion  of  souls,  preside  over  the 
whole  occasion.  Coarse  personalities,  and  harsh 
denunciations,  and  changes  rung  rudely  on 
terms  the  most  sacred  and  things  the  most  so- 
lemn, all  betray  the  wrong  spirit  that  prevails* 
But  to  see  the  character  of  the  system,  in  the 
aspect  now  considered,  fully  disclosed,  we  must 
look  at  it  again  in  its  more  advanced  positions, 
where  the  genius  that  animates  it  is  permitted  to 
work  with  full  scope.  Here  the  so  called  awa- 
kening, on  the  camp  ground  or  at  the  quarterly 
meeting,  is  often  presented  under  a  form  that  is 
absolutely  shocking  to  a  truly  serious  mind. 
Noise  and  confusion  unite  to  overwhelm  every 
right  sentiment  in  the  soul.  Decency  and  order 
are  given  to  the  winds.  A  dozen  perhaps  are 
heard  praying  at  once,  in  all  unseemly  postures^ 
and  with  the  most  violent  gestures.  And,  then, 
the  form  and  spirit  of  these  prayers,  as  far  as 
they  can  be  heard  !  What  rude  familiarity  with 
the  High  and  Holy  One  ;  what  low  belittling 
and  caricaturing  of  all  that  is  grand  in  the  Gos- 
pel ;  what  gross  profanity  in  the  style  of  many 
of  the  petitions,  with  which  it  is  pretended  to 
storm  the  citadel  of  God's  favors  !  The  atmos- 
phere of  such  a  meeting,  may  be  exciting,  in- 
toxicating, bewildering ;  but  it  has  no  power 
whatever  to  dispose  the  mind  to  devotion. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  scene  to  impress  those 


110  TBE  mXimS  BENCH. 


who  are  present,  with  the  sense  of  God's  awful 
heart-searching  presence.  Very  frequently,  while 
such  a  chaos  of  prayer  is  going  forward  in  full 
strength  at  one  end  of  the  house,  the  lookers  on 
at  the  other  show  themselves  as  much  at  their 
ease,  and  betray  as  little  emotion,  as  though 
they  were  sitting  in  a  bar-room.  They  have 
grown  obtuse  to  the  stirring  show,  and  feel  them- 
selves in  no  connection  with  what  is  going  for.- 
ward,  except  as  they  find  an  opportunity,  from 
time  to  time,  to  fall  in  with  the  eatch  of  some 
familiar  revival-song,  which  they  shout  forth  as:: 
boisterously  as  any  body  else.  Fanaticism  ha^' 
no  power  to  make  God's  presence  felt.  It  is 
wild,  presumptuous  and  profane,  where  it  af- 
fects to  partake  most  largely  of  the  power  of 
heaven.  No  wonder  that  the  rehgion  which 
commenced  and  carried  forward  under  such  aui^- 
pices,  should  show  itself  to  be  characteristically 
coarse  and  gross.  Wanting  true  reverence  for 
God,  it  will  be  without  true  charity  also  towards 
men.  li  is  likely  to  be  narrow,  intolerant,  sin- 
ister, and  rabidly  sectarian.  All  that  is  high 
will  become  low,  and  all  that  is  beautiful  be 
turned  into  vulgarity,  in  its  hands.* 

* ''Fanaticism  often  blazes  with  a  glaring  flame,  and  agi- 
tates assemblies  as  with  a  hurricane  or  earthquake;  but  God 
is  not  in  the  fire,  or  the  wind,  or  the  earthquake.  His  pre- 
sence is  more  commonly  with  the  still  small  voice.  There 
is  no  sounder  characteristic  of  genuine  devotion,  than  rever-**-^ 
ence.  Where  this  is  banished,  the  fire  may  burn  fiercely,  but>' 
it  is  unhallowed  fire.  Fanaticism,  however  much  it  may  as- 
sume the  garb  and  language  of  piety,  is  its  opposite ;  for 
while  the  latter  is  mild,  and  sweet,  and  disinterested,  andi 


Tim  AI^XIOUS  BENCm  1:11, 


One  striking  illustration  of  the  coarseness  of 
this  spirit,  is  found  in  the  disposition  it  has 
shown  in  all  ages,  to  set  aside  the  rule,  which 
forbids  women  to.  speak  publicly  ui  religious  as- 
semblies. Natiure  itself  may  be  said  to  teach  us, 
that  woman  cannot  quit  her  sphere  of  relative 
subordination  with  regard  to  man,  without  dis- 
honoring herself,  and  losing  her  proper  strength. 
And  it  is  no  small  argument  for  the  divine  ori- 
gin of  the  gospel,  that  while  it  teaches  the  abso- 
lute personal  equality  of  the  sexes  as  it  had  nev- 
er been  understood  before,  it  still  echoes,  while 
it  rightly  interprets,  the  voice  of  nature  with  re- 
gard to  this  point.  "I  suffer  not  a  woman  to- 
teach,^'  says  the  apostle,  "nor  to  usurp  authorir 
ty  over  the  man,  but  to  be  in  silence.^'  And 
again,  "Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the 
churches  ;  for  it  is  not  permitted  imto  them  to, 
speak. — It  is  a  shame  for  a  women  to  speak  in 
the  church,^^  True  religion  supports  this  judg- 
ijGient.  No  female,  with  the  Gospel  in  her  hearty, 
can  wish  to  have  it  reversed.  She  would  feel 
her  nature  wronged  rather,  in  being  required,  to. 
appear,  in  the  way  here  forbidden,  before  the 
public.  But  of  such  delicacy,  no  account  is 
made,  by  the  fanatical  temper  now  under  con- 
sideration. It  is  coarse  and  vulgar,  and  would 
fain  show  itself  wiser,  at  this  point,  than  Paul 
himself.  It  encourages  women  to  pray  in  pub- 
lic, and  to  address  promiscuous  meetuigs,  and 

respectful,  and  affectionate,  the  former  is  proud,  arrogant, 
censorious,  selfish,  carnal,  and  when  opposed,  malignant.*'—* 
J)r,  Mexander's  Letter  to  Dr,  Sprague, 


112  THE  ANXIOlGfS  BENCH. 


by  the  spirit  it  infuses  makes  them  willing  to  un- 
sex  themselves  in  this  way.  There  can  be  no 
surer  sign  of  grossness  and  coarseness  in  religiom 
than  a  disposition  to  tolerate  this  monstrous  per- 
version, under  any  form. 

The  general  system  to  which  the  Anxious 
Bench  belongs,  it  may  be  remarked  again,  is 
unfavorable  to  deep,  thorough  and  intelligent 
piety.  This  must  be  the  case  of  course,  if  there 
be  any  truth  in  the  observations  already  made 
with  regard  to  its  character.  A  system  that 
leads  to  such  a  multitude  of  spurious  conversions, 
and  that  makes  room  so  largely  for  that  low, 
gross,  fanatical  habit,  which  has  just  been  des- 
cribed, cannot  possibly  be  associated  to  any  ex- 
tent with  the  power  of  godliness,  in  its  deeper 
and  more  earnest  forms.  The  religion  which  it 
may  produce,  so  far  as  it  can  be  counted  genuine, 
will  be  for  the  most  part  of  a  dwarfish  size  and 
sickly  complexion.  The  "experience'^  of  the 
Anxious  Bench  is  commonly  shallow.  The 
friends  of  the  new  method  often  please  them- 
selves, it  is  true,  with  the  idea  that  their  awak- 
enings include  a  vast  amount  of  power  in  this 
way  ;  and  they  are  not  backward  to  insinuate, 
that  those  who  oppose  their  measures  are  ignor- 
ant of  what  pertains  to  the  "depths'^  of  experi- 
mental piety.  Were  such  persons  themselves 
experimentally  acquainted  with  the  pangs  of 
the  new  birth,  it  is  intimated,  they  would  not 
be  so  easily  offended  with  the  noise  and  disorder 
of  poor  souls  agonizing  at  the  altar ;  and  if  they 
had  ever  themselves  tasted  the  joys  of  pardoned 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  113 

sin,  they  might  be  expected  to  have  other  ears 
than  they  now  have,  for  the  shouts  and  hallelu- 
jahs of  the  redeemed,  suddenly  translated  in 
these  circumstances  from  the  power  of  Satan  in- 
to the  glorious  liberty  of  the  family  of  God. 
But  in  fact  no  "experiences'^  are  more  superfi- 
cial commonly,  than  those  which  belong  to  this 
whirlwind  process.  The  foundations  of  the  in- 
ward life  are  not  reached  and  moved  by  it  at  all 
All  that  would  be  wanted  often  to  hush  an  "al- 
tar-fulP^  of  chaotic  cries  to  solemn  stillness, 
would  be  that  the  hearts  of  the  "agonizing'^ 
mourners  should  be  suddenly  touched  with  some 
real  sense  of  the  presence  of  God  and  their  own 
sins.  "I  have  heard  of  Thee,''  says  Job,  "with 
the  hearing  of  the  ear  ,  but  uow  tTiine  eye  seeth 
thee  :  wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in 
dust  and  ashes."  Alas,  it  is  not  the  depth  of 
these  anxious  bench  and  camp-meeting  conver- 
sions, but  their  utter  want  of  depth,  that  expo- 
ses them  to  complaint.  They  involve  little  or 
nothing  of  what  the  old  divines  call  heart  work. 
They  bring  with  them  no  self-knowledge.  They 
fill  the  Church  with  lean  professors,  who  show 
subsequently  but  little  concern  to  grow  in  grace, 
little  capacity  indeed  to  understand  at  all  the 
free,  deep,  full  life  of  the  "new  man"  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Such  converts,  if  they  do  not  altogether 
"fall  from  grace,"  are  apt  to  continue  at  least 
babes  in  the  gospel,  as  long  as  they  live.  The 
natural  fruit  of  the  system  is  a  sickly  Christian- 
ity, that  is  sure  to  be  defective  or  one-sided, 
both  in  doctrine  and  practice.  It  proceeds  upon 
8 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 

a  wrong  conception  of  religion  from  the  starJ^ 
and  error  and  heresy,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
are  wrought  plentifully  into  the  very  texture  of 
all  that  is  reached  by  its  operations.  There  is 
involved  in  it  a  spirit  of  delusion,  which  cannot 
fail  to  show  its  power  disastrously,  after  a  short 
time,  in  any  community  in  which  it  is  suffered 
to  prevail. 

Here  is  another  most  serious  charge,  demand- 
ing our  special  attention.  I  have  denominated 
the  system  a  heresy,  not  inconsiderately  or  for 
rhetorical  effect  simply,  but  with  sober  calcula- 
tion and  design.  In  religion,  as  in  life  univer- 
sally, theory  and  practice  are  always  insepara- 
bly intertwined,  in  the  giound  of  the  soul.  Eve- 
ry  error  is  felt  practically  ;  and  wherever  obli- 
quity in  conduct  comes  into  view,  it  must  be  re- 
ferred to  some  corresponding  obliquity  in 
principle.  It  is  not  by  accident  then  that  the 
system  of  New  Measures  is  found  produ- 
cing so  largely,  the  evil  consequences  whicli 
have  been  thus  far  described.  Error  and  here- 
sy, I  repeat  it,  are  involved  in  the  system  itself, 
and  cannot  fail  sooner  or  later,  where  it  is  en- 
couraged, to  evolve  themselves  in  the  most  mis- 
chievous results.  Finneyism  is  only  Taylorism 
reduced  to  practice,  the  speculative  heresy  of 
New-Haven  actualized  in  common  life.  A  low, 
shallow,  pelagianizing  theory  of  religion,  runs 
through  it  from  beginning  to  end.  The  fact  of 
sin  is  acknowledged,  but  not  in  its  true  extent. 
The  idea  of  a  new  spiritual  creation  is  admitted, 
but  not  in  its  proper  radical  and  comprehensive 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  115 


form.    The  ground  of  the  sinner's  salvation  is 
made  to  he  at  last  in  his  own  separate  person. 
The  deep  import  of  the  declaration,  That  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh  is  fleshy  is  not  fully  appre- 
hended ;  and  it  is  vainly  imagined  accordingly, 
that  the  flesh  as  such  may  be  so  stinmlated  and 
exalted  notwithstanding,  as  to  prove  the  mother 
of  that  spiritual  nature,  which  we  are  solemnly 
assured  can  be  born  only  of  the  Spirit.  Hence 
all  stress  is  laid  upon  the  energy  of  the  individ- 
ual will,  (the  self-will  of  the  flesh,)  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  great  change  in  which  re- 
generation is  supposed  to  consist.    The  case  is 
not  remedied  at  all  by  the  consideration,  that 
due  account  is  made  at  the  same  time  professed- 
ly of  the  aids  of  God's  Spirit,  as  indispensable 
in  the  work  of  conversion.    The  heresy  lies  in- 
volved in  the  system.    This  is  so  constructed  as 
naturally,  and  in  time  inevitably,  to  engender 
false  views  of  religion.    Sometimes  the  mere 
purpose  to  serve  God,  in  the  same  form  with  a 
resolution  to  sign  a  temperance  pledge,  is  con- 
sidered to  be  the  ground  of  regeneration.  At 
other  times,  it  is  made  to  stand  in  a  certain  state 
of  feeling,  supposed  to  be  of  supernatural  origin, 
but  apprehended  notwithstanding  mechanically, 
as  the  result  of  a  spiritual  process  which  begins 
and  ends  with  the  sinner  himself.    The  experi- 
ence of  the  supposed  supernatural  in  this  case, 
stands  in  the  same  relation  to  the  actual  power 
of  the  new  birth,  that  magic  bears  to  the  true 
idea  of  a  miracle.    The  higher  force  does  not 
strictly  and  properly  take  possession  of  the  lower, 


116 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


but  is  presumed  rather  to  have  been  reduced  to 
the  possession  and  service  of  this  last,  to  be  used 
by  it  for  its  own  convenience.  Religion  does 
not  get  the  sinner,  but  it  is  the  sinner  who  "gets 
religion.'^  Justification  is  taken  to  be  in  fact  by 
feeling  J  not  by  faith  ;  and  in  this  way  falls  back 
as  fully  into  the  sphere  of  self-righteousness,  as 
though  it  were  expected  from  works  under  any 
other  form.  In  both  the  views  which  have  been 
mentioned,  as  grounded  either  in  a  change  of 
purpose  or  a  change  of  feeling,  reUgion  is  found 
to  be  in  the  end  the  product  properly  of  the  sin- 
ner himself.  It  is  wholly  subjective,  and  there- 
fore visionary  and  false.  The  life  of  the  soul 
must  stand  in  something  beyond  itself  Religion 
involves  the  will ;  but  not  as  self-will,  affecting 
to  be  its  own  ground  and  centre.  Religion  in- 
volves feeling  ;  but  it  is  not  comprehended  in 
this  as  its  principle.  Religion  is  subjective  also^ 
fills  and  rules  the  individual  in  whom  it  appears; 
but  it  is  not  created  in  any  sense  by  its  subject 
or  from  its  subject.  The  life  of  the  branch  is  in 
the  trunk.  The  theory  we  have  been  contem- 
plating then,  as  included  practically  in  the  sys- 
tem of  New  Measures,  is  a  great  and  terrible 
heresy  ;  which  it  is  to  be  feared  is  operating,  in 
this  connection,  to  deceive  and  destroy  a  vast 
multitude  of  souls. 

The  proper  fruits  of  Pelagianism,  follow  the 
system  invariably,  in  proportion  exactly  to  the 
extent,  in  which  it  may  be  suffered  in  any  case 
to  prevail.  A  most  ample  field  for  instruction 
with  regard  to  this  point,  for  all  who  care  to  re- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  117 


ceive  instruction,  is  presented  in  the  history  of 
the  great  religious  movement,  over  which  Mr. 
Finney  presided  some  years  ago,  in  certain  parts 
of  this  country.  Years  of  faithful  pastoral  ser- 
vice, on  the  part  of  a  different  order  of  ministers, 
working  in  a  wholly  different  style,  have  hard- 
ly yet  sufficed,  in  the  Northern  section  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  to  restore  to  something  like 
spiritual  fruitfulness  and  beauty,  the  field,  over 
which  this  system  then  passed,  as  a  wasting 
fire,  in  the  fulness  of  its  strength.  The  perfec- 
tionism of  Oberlin,  with  its  low  conceptions  of 
the  law  of  God,  is  but  a  natural  development  of 
the  false  life,  with  which  it  is  animated.  The 
wide  West  abounds,  in  every  direction,  with 
illustrations  of  its  mischievous  action,  under  all 
imaginable  forms,  in  many  places,  a  morbid 
thirst  for  excitement,  may  be  said  to  exhaust 
the  whole  interest,  that  is  felt  in  religion.  The 
worst  errors  stand  in  close  juxta-position,  with 
the  most  bold  pretensions  to  the  highest  order  of 
christian  experience.  All  might  seem  to  begin 
in  the  Spirit,  and  yet  all  is  perpetually  ending  in 
the  flesh.  It  were  an  easy  thing  too,  to  gather 
exemplifications,  supporting  the  same  lesson, 
from  the  past  history  of  the  Church.  For  the 
system,  properly  speaking,  is  not  new.  The 
same  theory  of  religion  has  led,  in  all  ages,  to 
substantially  the  same  style  of  action,  and  this 
has  been  followed  by  substantially  the  same  bad 
fruits. 

The  question  of  "New  Measures^^  then,  as  it 
claims  at  this  time  particularly  the  attention  of 


118  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


the  German  Churches,  is  one  of  much  greater 
importance  than  some  might  be  disposed  to  ima- 
gine.   The  truth  is,  this  system,  as  we  have 
said,  has  a  hfe  and  spirit  of  its  own.    It  may  be 
associated  to  some  extent,  in  certain  hands,  with 
the  power  of  a  more  vigorous  life  derived  from 
a  different  quarter,  so  as  to  seem  comparatively 
sound  and  safe.    But  it  ought  not  to  be  thought, 
on  this  account,  that  it  may  be  incorporated 
practically  with  one  order  of  thinking  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  as  easily  as  with  anothet. 
It  is  not  by  accident  only,  that  it  is  found  connect- 
ing itself  with  the  faults  and  defects  that  have 
now  been  mentioned.    A  false  theory  of  reli- 
gion is  involved  in  it,  which  cannot  fail  to  work 
itself  out  and  make  itself  felt,  in  many  hurtful 
results,  wherever  it  gains  footing  in  the  Church. 
No  religious  community  can  grow  and  prosper, 
in  a  solid  way,  where  it  is  allowed  to  have  any 
considerable  authority  ;  because  it  will  always 
stand  in  the  way  of  those  deeper  and  more  silent 
forms  of  action,  by  which  alone  it  is  possible  for 
this  end  to  be  accomplished.    It  is  a  different 
system  altogether  that  is  required,  to  build  up 
the  interests  of  Christianity  in  a  firm  and  sure 
way.    A  ministry  apt  to  teach ;  sermons  full  of 
unction  and  light;  faithful,  systematic  instruc- 
tion ;  zeal  for  the  interests  of  holiness ;  pastoral 
visitation ;  catechetical  training ;  due  attention 
to  order  and  discipline ;  patient  perseverance  in 
the  details  of  the  ministerial  work ;  these  are 
the  agencies,  by  which  alone  the  kingdom  of 
God  may  be  expected  to  go  steadily  forward. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.'  119 


among  any  people.  Where  these  are  fully  em- 
ployed, there  will  be  revivals  ;  but  they  will  be 
only  as  it  were  the  natural  fruit  of  the  general 
culture  going  before,  without  that  spasmodic, 
meteoric  character,  which  too  often  distinguish- 
es excitements  under  this  name  ;  while  the  life 
of  religion  will  show  itself  abidingly  at  work, 
in  the  reigning  temper  of  the  Church,  at  all  oth- 
er times.  Happy  the  congregation,  that  may 
be  placed  under  such  spiritual  auspices !  Hap- 
py for  our  German  Zion,  if  such  might  be  the 
systemthat  should  prevail,  to  the  exclusion  of  eve- 
ry other,  within  her  borders  !  We  may  style  it, 
for  distinction  sake,  the  system  of  the  Catechism. 
It  is  another  system  wholly  from  that  which  we 
have  been  contemplating  in  this  tract.  We  find 
the  attempt  made  in  some  cases,  it  is  true,  to  in- 
corporate the  power  of  the  Catechism  with  the 
use  of  new  measures.  But  the  union  is  unnatu- 
ral, and  can  never  be  inward  and  complete. 
The  two  systems  involve  at  the  bottom,  two  dif- 
ferent theories  of  religion.  The  spirit  of  the 
Anxious  Bench  is  at  war  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Catechism.  Where  it  comes  decidedly  to  pre- 
vail, catechetical  instruction,  and  the  religious 
training  of  the  young  generally,  are  not  likely 
to  be  maintained  with  much  effect ;  and  it  will 
not  be  strange,  if  they  should  be  openly  slighted 
even,  and  thrust  out  of  the  way  as  an  incum- 
brance to  the  Gospel,  rather  than  a  help.*  What 


*  A  graphic  illustration  of  this  point  was  furnished  lately, 
it  is  said,  by  a  minister  of  the  New  Measure  school,  in  this 
neighborhood.    On  the  morning  of  a  sacramental  sabbath,  his 


120  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


is  wrought  in  the  way  of  the  Catechism  is  con- 
sidered to  be  of  man,  what  is  wrought  by  the 
Bench  is  taken  readily  for  the  work  of  God. 
And  the  reason  of  this  is  near  at  hand.  The 
Catechism  is  indeed  weak  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  have  this  judgment.  They  have  no  inward 
power  to  make  themselves  felt,  in  this  way. 
But  they  seem  to  have  power  in  the  use  of  the 
Bench ;  and  it  is  no  wonder  they  should  magni- 
fy it  accordingly.  The  systems  are  antagonis- 
tic. Particular  men,  standing  under  one  stand- 
ard, may  be  to  some  extent  entangled  in  views 
and  practices  properly  belonging  to  the  other  ; 
but  so  far  they  must  be  inconsistent  with  them- 
selves. Each  system,  as  such,  has  its  own  life 
and  soul,  in  virtue  of  which  it  cannot  truly  coal- 
esce with  the  other.  They  cannot  flourish  and 
be  in  vigorous  force  together.  The  Bench  is 
against  the  Catechism,  and  the  Catechism  against 
the  Bench.  I  mean  of  course  not  the  Catechism 
as  a  mere  dead  form,  in  the  way  in  which  the 


catechetical  class  was  admitted,  by  profession  of  faith,  to  the 
Lord's  table  and  the  full  communion  of  the  Church.  On  the 
very  same  evening,  they  were  drawn  forward  to  the  anxious 
bench,  for  the  purpose  of  conversion  !  Towards  the  dose  of 
Ihe  year  1S42,  we  find  in  the  Lutheran  Observer  a  glowing^ 
report  from  this  same  workman  of  splendid  results  effected  by 
his  ministry,  on  a  different  field,  which  he  was  obliged  soon 
after  to  leave.  In  a  single  protracted  meeting,  in  one  case, 
he  was  able  to  muster  "about  one  hundred  and  fifty"  converts. 
Since  that  lime,  he  has  reported  another  revival,  which  came 
and  went  so  rapidly,  that  the  community  generally  had  no 
knowledge  of  it  till  it  v^'as  all  over.  No  wonder  such  a  man 
should  put  honor  on  the  Bench  and  scorn  on  the  Cate- 
chism, and  rail  out  from  the  pulpit  against  the  present  tracts 
as  though  it  were  the  "abomination  of  desolation"  itself. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  121 


original  order  of  the  Churchy  has  been  too  often 
abused ;  and  it  is  silly,  if  not  something  worse^ 
to  insist  upon  this  view  of  it,  when  the  two  sys- 
tems are  drawn  into  contrast,  as  though  there 
could  be  no  other  alternative  to  the  Bench  than 
the  Catechism  without  life.  It  is  the  living  Cat- 
echism, the  Catechism  awakened  and  active, 
that  is  intended  in  this  opposition.  As  such,  it 
stands  the  representative  and  symbol  of  a  system, 
embracing  its  own  theory  of  religion,  and  inclu- 
ding a  wide  circle  of  agencies,  peculiar  to  itself, 
for  carrying  this  theory  into  effect.  These  agen- 
cies, in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it,  will  be  under- 
stood, and  honored,  and  actively  appUed,  in 
proportion  exactly  as  the  spirit  of  the  system- 
may  prevail ;  and  in  the  same  proportion  the 
Christianity  of  the  Church  may  be  expected  to 
show  itself  large,  deep,  full,  vigorous  and  free. 
Between  such  a  Christianity  and  that  v/hich  is 
the  product  of  the  Bench,  there  can  be  no  com- 
parison ;  and  it  must  be  counted  an  immense 
misfortune,  in  the  case  of  an)^^  religious  denomi- 
nation, when  the  views,  feelings,  and  forms  of 
action,  that  are  represented  by  this,  through  the 
force  of  a  perverse  judgment,  gain  such  ground, 
as  to  push  the  other  system  aside.  It  must  be 
ever  a  wretched  choice,  when  the  Bench  is  pre- 
ferred to  the  Catechism. 


'it-'' 


CHAPTER  VII. 

System  of  the  Catechism. — lis  theological  ground  and  con- 
stitution,— Its  general  methods  and  forms  of  action* — 
Historical  exemplification. 


It  seems  to  be  due  to  the  whole  subject,  that 
the  system  of  the  Catechism,  as  here  opposed 
to  the  system  of  the  Bench,  should  be  a  little 
more  fully  described.  This  might  well  form  the 
theme  of  a  separate  tract.  As  a  closing  chapter 
to  the  present  publication,  it  can  claim  our  at- 
tention only  in  a  very  general  way. 

The  Anxious  Bench  has  stood  before  us  as 
the  representative  and  type  of  a  certain  religious 
system,  having  its  own  theory  and  its  own  prac- 
tice, both  replete  with  dangerous  error.  In  the 
same  way,  we  exhibit  the  Catechism  as  the  rep- 
resentative and  type  of  another  system,  inclu- 
ding in  like  manner  both  theory  and  practice, 
of  an  opposite  character.  It  is  not  meant  of 
course,  that  the  whole  system  originated  in  the 
Catechism,  or  that  it  must  stand  or  fall  in  every 
instance  with  the  use  of  the  Catechism;  but 
simply  that  this  belongs  to  it,  in  principle  and 
constitution,  and  is  well  fitted  at  the  same  time 
to  stand  as  a  specimen  of  its  general  meaning 
and  force. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


123 


The  theory  of  religion  in  which  the  system  of 
the  Catechism  stands,  is  vastly  more  deep  and 
-comprehensive,  and  of  course  vastly  more  ear- 
nest also,  than  that  which  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  the  other  system.  This  last  we  have  seen  to 
be  characteristically  pelagian,  with  narrow  views 
of  the  nature  of  sin,  and  confused  apprehensions 
of  the  difference  between  flesh  and  spirit ;  in- 
volving in  the  end  the  gross  and  radical  error, 
that  conversion  is  to  be  considered,  in  one  shape 
or  another,  the  product  of  the  sinner's  own  will, 
and  not  truly  and  strictly  a  new  creation  in 
Christ  Jesus  by  the  power  of  God.  This  is  an 
old  heresy,  of  which  notice  is  taken  by  the  apos- 
tle Paul  in  the  second  chapter  of  his  epistle  to 
the  Church  at  Colosse,  and  which  has  been  ac- 
tively at  work  in  the  Christian  world,  under  va- 
rious forms  and  disguises,  from  that  time  to  the 
present.  It  has  often  put  on  the  fairest  appear- 
ances, seeming  even  to  go  beyond  the  general 
iife  of  the  Church,  in  the  measure  of  its  zeal 
and  spirituality.  It  can  easily  affect  also,  de- 
ceiving itself  as  much  as  others,  to  honor  the 
grace  of  God,  and  to  derive  all  its  life  from  a 
source  beyond  itself.  But  still  the  imagination 
remains,  that  this  life  is  something  that  stands 
in  the  mdividual  separately  taken,  the  property 
of  a  particular  self^  rather  than  a  more  general 
power  in  which  every  such  particular  self  is  re- 
quired to  lose  itself,  that  "old  things  may  pass 
away  and  all  things  beeomc  new.''  The  man 
gets  religion,  and  so  stands  over  it  and  above  it, 
in  his  own  fancy,  as  the  owner  of  property  in 


124  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


any  other  case.  From  such  monstrous  perver- 
sion, the  worst  consequences  may  be  expected 
to  flow.  The  system  may  generate  action  ;  but 
it  will  be  morbid  action,  one-sided,  spasmodic, 
ever  leaning  towards  fanaticism.  In  opposition 
to  this,  the  true  theory  of  religion  carries  us  con- 
tinually beyond  the  individual,  to  the  view  of  a 
far  deeper  and  more  general  form  of  existence  in 
which  his  particular  life  is  represented  to  stand. 
Thus  sin  is  not  simply  the  offspring  of  a  par- 
ticular will,  putting  itself  forth  in  the  form  of 
actual  transgressions,  but  a  wrong  habit  of  hu- 
manity itself,  a  general  and  universal  force, 
which  includes  and  rules  the  entire  existence  of 
the  individual  man,  from  the  very  start.*  The 
disease  is  organic,  rooted  in  the  race,  and  not  to 
be  overcome  in  any  case  by  a  force  less  deep 
and  general  than  itself  As  well  might  we  look 
for  the  acorn  to  forsake  in  growing  the  type  of 
its  proper  species,  and  put  forth  the  form  of  a 
mountain  ash  or  stately  elm.    "That  which  is 


*  This  point  is  well  maintained  in  a  Defence  of  the  Second 
Article  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  (^'gegen  alte  und  neue 
Gegener/*)  by  Dr.  Sartonus,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
Lutheran  divines  of  the  present  age.  Had  the  treatise  been 
N^Titten  expressly  against  the  theory  of  sin  brought  iorward 
some  time  since,  in  this  country,  by  Dr.  Taylor  of  New  Ha- 
ven, of  whom  probably  the  German  theologian  had  never 
heard,  it  could  hardly  have  furnished  a  refutation  of  it  more 
thorough  and  complete.  U  is  directed  against  the  Rational- 
ism of  modern  Germany,  which  only  reiterates  here  the  Pela- 
gianism  of  the  Romish  Church,  as  we  find  it  withstood  in  the 
ever  memorable  Confession  of  Augsburg.  This  shallow  theo- 
ry, as  exhibited  by  Dr.  Taylor,  constitutes  as  we  have  seen 
the  very  soul  of  Finneyism,  which  is  simply  another  name  for 
the  system  of  the  Anxious  Bench. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  125 


born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh. So  deep  and  broad 
is  the  ruin,  from  which  man  is  to  be  deUvered 
by  the  gospel.    And  here  again,  the  same  depth 
and  breadth  are  presented  to  us  also  in  the 
Christian  salvation  itself.    Man  is  the  subject  of 
it,  but  not  the  author  of  it,  in  any  sense.  His 
nature  is  restorable,  but  it  can  never  restore  it- 
self.   The  restoration  to  be  real,  must  begin 
beyond  the  individual.    In  this  case  as  in  the 
other,  the  general  must  go  before  the  particular, 
and  support  it  as  its  proper  ground.    Thus  hu- 
manity, fallen  in  Adam,  is  made  to  undergo  a 
resurrection  in  Christ,  and  so  restored,  flows 
over  organically,  as  in  the  other  case,  to  all  in 
whom  its  life  appears.    The  sinner  is  saved  then 
by  an  inward  living  union  with  Christ,  as  real  as 
the  bond  by  which  he  has  been  joined  in  the 
first  instance  to  Adam.    This  union  is  reached 
and  maintained,  through  the   medium  of  the 
Church,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It 
constitutes  a  new  life,  the  ground  of  which  is 
not  in  the  particular  subject  of  it  at  all,  but  in 
Christ,  the  organic  root  of  the  Church.  The 
particular  subject  lives,  not  properly  speaking  in 
the  acts  of  his  own  will  separately  considered, 
but  in  the  power  of  a  vast  generic  life,  that  lies 
wholly  beyond  his  will,  and  has  now  began  to 
manifest  itself  through  him,  as  the  law  and  type 
of  his  will  itself,  as  well  as  of  his  whole  being. 
As  born  of  the  Spirit,  in  contradistinction  from 
the  flesh,  he  is  himself  spiritual,  and  capable  of  true 
righteousness.    Thus  his  salvation  begins,  and 
thus  it  is  carried  forward,  till  it  becomes  com- 


126 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


plete  in  the  resurrection  of  the  great  day.  From 
first  to  last,  it  is  a  power  which  he  does  not  so 
much  apprehend,  as  he  is  apprehended  by  it, 
and  comprehended  in  it,  and  carried  along  with 
it,  as  something  infinitely  more  deep  and  vast 
than  himself. 

Now  as  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  opposite 
^theories  of  religion,  thus  briefly  described,  may 
be  found  to  reign,  not  in  the  written  or  oral 
creed  of  those  who  take  an  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject, but  in  the  inmost  core  of  their  Ufe,  the  re- 
sult will  appear,  with  characteristic  difference, 
in  the  whole  tenor  and  bearing  of  their  religion 
itself,  practically  considered.  And  this  differ- 
ence will  be  substantially  that  of  the  two  sys- 
tems now  compared,  the  religion  of  the  Cate- 
chism and  the  reUgion  of  the  Bench. 

It  might  seem  indeed,  at  first  view,  that  the 
theory  which  sets  the  particular  before  the  gen- 
eral, in  this  case,  would  be  found  more  favora- 
ble than  its  opposite  to  earnest  and  vigorous  re- 
ligious action,  in  every  direction.  And  so  it  is 
often  taken  to  be,  in  fact.  The  other  scheme,^ 
involving  as  it  seems  to  do  a  helpless  depend- 
ence of  the  individual  upon  a  generality  deeper 
and  more  comprehensive  than  himself,  first  as 
it  regards  sin,  and  then  again  as  it  regards 
righteousness,  is  held  up  to  reproach,  as  a  view 
that  cuts  the  sinews  of  moral  action,  and  may  be 
expected,  where  it  prevails,  to  lie  like  a  para- 
lysing incubus  on  all  the  energies  of  the  Church. 
But  this  idea  is  contradicted  by  universal  expe- 
rience, as  well  as  by  the  true  philosophy  of  life. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


127 


To  be  moved  deeply  and  strongly  in  any  case^ 
man  must  be  wrought  upon  by  a  force,  deeper 
and  more  comprehensive  than  his  separate  self. 
Great  purposes  and  great  efforts  appear,  only 
when  the  sense  of  the  general  overpowers  the 
sense  of  the  particular,  and  the  last  is  constrain- 
ed to  become  tributary  to  the  tendencies  and 
purposes  of  the  first.  There  may  be  a  great 
show  of  strength,  where  the  man  acts  simply 
from  and  for  himself ;  noise,  agitation,  passion, 
reaching  even  to  violence  ;  but  it  will  be  only  a 
display  of  imbecility  when  all  is  done.  The 
will  acting  in  this  way  is  very  weakness  itself ; 
and  all  the  blustering  and  violence  it  may  put 
on,  serves  but  to  expose  the  deficiency  of 
strength  that  prevails  within.  To  acquire,  in 
any  case,  true  force,  it  must  fall  back  on  a  pow- 
er more  general  than  itself.  And  so  it  is  found, 
that  in  the  sphere  of  religion  particularly,  the 
pelagian  theory  is  always  vastly  more  impotent 
for  practical  purposes,  than  that  to  which  it 
stands  opposed.  The  action  which  it  produces 
may  be  noisy,  fitful,  violent ;  but  it  can  never 
carry  with  it  the  depth,  the  force,  the  fullness, 
that  are  found  to  characterise  the  life  of  the  soul, 
when  set  in  motion  by  the  other  view. 

Conviction  of  sin  is  never  deep  and  thorough, 
till  it  comes  to  a  clear  consciousness,  with  the 
sinner,  that  his  sinful  life  is  rooted  in  a  sinful 
nature,  older  and  broader  than  himself,  which 
he  has  no  power  to  renovate  or  control.  Nor  is 
the  Christian  salvation  rightly  understood,  till  it 
is  felt  that  it  must  be  something  more  deep  and 


128  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


comprehensive  than  the  will  of  the  individual 
subject  himself,  in  whom  it  is  to  appear.  Such 
experience  carrying  the  man  beyond  himself, 
and  merging  the  consciousness  of  the  particular 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  general,  may  be 
much  less  ostentatious  and  much  more  quiet  than 
the  experience  generated  by  the  other  view  ;  but 
it  will  be  so  only  because  it  is  far  less  superficial, 
and  far  more  full  of  truth.  Religion  in  this  form 
becomes  strictly  a  life,  the  life  of  God  in  the 
soul.  So  far  as  this  life  prevails  it  is  tranquil, 
profound,  and  free.  It  overcomes  the  world ; 
*^not  by  might  and  by  power,'^  the  unequal,  rest- 
less, fitful,  and  spasmodic  efforts  of  the  flesh, 
^'but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.'^  The  believer 
can  do  all  things,  standing  in  Christ. 

And  as  this  theory  of  religion  is  the  ground 
of  all  deep  experience  in  the  case  of  the  individ* 
ual  Christian,  so  it  gives  rise  to  the  most  vigor- 
ous and  comprehensive  action,  on  the  part  of 
the  Church,  for  carrying  into  effect  the  provis- 
ions of  the  gospel  for  the  salvation  of  men.  In 
proportion  exactly  as  it  is  understood  and  felt, 
will  such  action  display  itself  in  all  its  proper 
forms ;  and  under  no  other  circumstances  can 
any  agency  be  employed  for  the  same  end,  that 
will  be  entitled  at  all  to  take  its  place. 

From  first  to  last,  the  action  now  mentioned 
will  go  forward,  under  a  due  practical  recogni- 
tion of  the  truth,  that  both  the  ruin  of  man  and 
his  recovery  rest  in  a  ground,  which  is  beyond 
himself  as  an  individual.  If  saved  at  all,  he  is 
to  be  saved  by  the  torce  of  a  spiritual  constitu- 


TfiK  AiNXIOtrS  BENCH.  129 


%ion,  established  by  God  for  the  purpose,  the 
provisions  of  which  go  far  beyond  the  resources 
of  his  own  will,  and  are  expected  to  reach  him, 
not  so  much  through  the  measure  of  his  own 
particular  life,  as  by  the  medium  of  a  more  gen- 
eral life,  with  which  he  is  to  be  filled  and  ani- 
mated from  without.    This  spiritual  constitution 
is  brought  to  bear  upon  him  in  the  Churchy  by 
means  of  institutions  and  agencies  which  God 
has  appointed,  and  clothed  with  power,  ex- 
pressly for  this  end.    Hence  where  the  system 
of  the  Catechism  prevails,  great  account  is  made 
of  the  Church,  and  all  reliance  placed  upon  the 
means  of  grace  comprehended  in  its  constitution, 
as  all  sufficient  under  God  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  its  own  purposes.    The  means  are  felt 
to  be  something  more  than  mere  devices  of  hu- 
man ingenuity,  and  are  honoured  and  diligently 
used  accordingly  as  the  "Wisdom  of  God  and 
the  power  of  God^'  tmto  salvation.    Due  regard 
is  had  to  the  idea  of  the  Church  as  something 
more  than  a  bare  abstraction,  the  conception  of 
an  aggregate  of  parts  mechanically  brought  to- 
gether.   It  is  apprehended  rather  as  an  organic 
life,  springing  perpetually  from  the  same  ground, 
and  identical  with  itself  at  every  point.    In  this 
view,  the  Church  is  truly  the  mother  of  all  her 
childreni    They  do  not  impart  life  to  her,  but 
she  imparts  life  to  them.    Here  again  the  gener- 
al is  felt  to  go  before  the  particular,  and  to  con- 
dition all  its  manifestations.    The  Church  is  in 
no  sense  the  product  of  individual  Christianity^ 
as  though  a  number  of  persons  should  first  re^ 
9 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH; 


ceive  the  heavenly  fire  in  separate  streams,  and' 
then  come  into  such  a  spiritual  connection  com- 
prising the  whole  ;  but  individual  Christianity  is 
the  product,  always  and  entirely,  of  the  Churchj 
as  existing  previously,  and  only  revealing  its  life 
in  this  way.  Christ  lives  in  the  Church,  and 
through  the  Church  in  its  particular,  members  ; 
just  as  Adam  lives  in  the  human  race  genericaU 
ly  considered,  and  through  the  race  in  every  in- 
dividual man.  This  view  of  the  relation  of  the 
Church  to.the  salvation  of  the  individual,  exerts, 
an  important  influencQ,  .  in  the  case  before  us, 
on  the  whole  system  of  action,  by  which  it  is. 
sought,  to  reach  this  object. 

Where  it  prevails,  a  serious  interest  will  be 
taken  in  the  ease  of  children,  as  proper  subjects, 
for  the  Christian  salvation,  from  the  earliest  age. 
Infants  born  in  the  Church,  are  regarded  and; 
treated  as  members  of  it  from  the  beginning, 
and  this  privilege  is  felt  tp  be  something,  more 
than  an  empty  shadow.  The  idea  of  infant  con- 
version is  held  in  practical  honor ;  aud  it  is  coun- 
ted not  only  possible  but  altogether  natural,  that 
children  growing  up  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church, 
under  the  faithful  application  of  the  means  of 
grace,  should  be  quickened  into  spiritual  life  in  . 
a  comparatively  quiet  way,  and  spring  up  nu- 
merously, "as  willows  by  the  water-courses,' ' 
to- adorn  the  Christian  profession,  without  being  ^ 
able  at  all  to  trace  the  process  by  wjiich  the  glo- 
rious change  has  been  eflfecte'd.*    Where  the 

♦  To  cut  off  occasion,  from  such  as  itek  occasion,  for  mis- 
jeT)resentatioD,  it  may  be  well  enough  to  remark,  here, 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


131 


Church  has  lost  all  faith  in  this  method  of  con- 
version, either  not  looking  for  it  at  all,  or  look- 
ing for  it  only  in  rare  and  extraordinary  instan- 
ces, it  is  an  evidence  that  she  is  under  the  force 
^f  a  wrong  religious  theory,  and  practically  sub- 
jected, at  least  in  some  measure,  to  the  false 
system  Avhose  symbol  is  the  Bench.  If  conver- 
sion is  not  expected  nor  sought  in  this  way 
among  infants  and  children,  it  is  not  likely  often 
to  occur.  All  is  made  to  hang  methodistically 
on  sudden  and  violent  experiences,  belonging  to 
the  individual  separately  taken,  and  holding  lit- 
tle or  no  connection  with  his  relations  to  the 
Church  previously.  Then  as  a  matter  of  course,, 
baptism  becomes  a  barren  sign,  and  the  children 


(though  in  ordinary  circumstances  the  remark  might  seem  to 
be  wholly  superfluous,)  that  the  idea  of  such  a  comparativel}^ 
silent  process  of  conversion,  as  something  to  be  desired  and 
sought  in  the  case  of  infants  and  children,  does  not  imply  at  all 
that  regeneration  in  any  case  is  a  gradual  change.  Nor  is  it 
intended  to  throw  discredit  by  any  means,  on  all  sudden  con. 
versions  in  later  life,  attended  with  experience  more  or  less 
violent  and  marked,  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  grown  up 
to  some  age  in  an  impenitent  state.  Conversions  of  this  sort 
under  proper  circumstances,  are  entitled-  to  entire  confidence, 
and  may  be  expected  to  occur  frequently  under  faithful  minis- 
trations on  the  part  of  the  Church.  But  the  error  is,  in  mak- 
ing this  the  exclusive  conception  of  the  process.  It  is  of  im- 
mense account  to  hold  fa«t,  with  Luther  and  the  other  Re. 
formers,  to  the  other  conception,  at  the  same  time.  Regen- 
eration is  instantaneous,  but  as  such  not  to  be  perceived  di- 
rectly in  awy  case  by  the  subject.  It  can  be  perceived  only 
in  its  effects.  But  these  belong  to  conversion,  the  change  that 
flows  from  regeneration.  Regeneration  may  take  place  in 
the  womb,  or  in  infancy,  or  in  early  childhood,  or  in  adult 
age.  In  every  case,  its  symbol  is  the  wind;  "thou  hearest  the 
sound  thereof,  butcaxist  nottellwhen.ee  it  conieth,  noa  wbith-. 
«r  it  go«th." 


132  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


of  the  Church  are  left  to  grow  up  like  the  child- 
ren of  the  world,  under  general  most  heartless, 
most  disastrous  neglect.  The  exemplifications 
of  such  a  connection  between  wrong  theory  and 
wrong  practice,  in  this  case,  are  within  the 
reach  of  the  most  common  observation.  Only 
where  the  system  of  the  Catechism  is  in  honor 
and  vigorous  force,  do  we  ever  find  a  properly 
earnest  and  comprehensive  regard  exhibited  for 
the  salvation  of  the  young  ;  a  regard,  that  ope- 
rates, not  partially  and  occasionally  only,  but 
follows  its  subjects  with  all-compassing  interest, 
like  the  air  and  light  of  heaven,  from  the  first 
breath  of  infancy  onwards  ;  a  regard,  that  can- 
not be  satisfied,  in  their  behalf,  with  the  spas- 
modic experience  of  the  anxious  bench,  but  tra- 
vails in  birth  for  them  continually,  till  Christ  be 
formed  in  their  hearts  the  hope  of  glory. 

Thus  due  regard  is  had  to  the  family^  the  do- 
mestic constitution,  as  a  vital  and  fundamental 
force,  in  the  general  organization  of  the  Church , 
and  all  proper  pains  are  taken  to  promote  reli- 
gion in  families,  as  the  indispensable  condition 
of  its  prosperity  under  all  other  forms.  Parents 
are  engaged  to  pray  for  their  children,  and  to 
watch  over  them  with  true  spiritual  solicitude, 
continually  endeavoring  to  draw  them  to  Christ. 
With  such  feelings,  they  will  have  of  course  a 
family  altar,  and  daily  sacrifices  of  praise  and 
prayer,  in  the  midst  of  their  house.  They  will 
be  careful  too,  to  instil  into  the  minds  of  their 
children  the  great  truths  of  rehgion,  "in  the 
house  and  by  the  way/^    Catechetical  instruc- 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


133 


tion  in  particular,  will  be  faithfully  employed, 
from  the  beginning.  And  to  crown  all,  the 
power  of  a  pious  and  holy  example  will  be 
sought,  as  necessary  to  impart  life  to  all  other 
forms  of  influence.  All  this  belongs  properly  to 
the  system  of  the  Catechism. 

In  close  connection  with  this  domestic  train- 
ing, the  ministrations  of  the  Church  come  in, 
under  a  more  public  form,  to  carry  forward  the 
same  work.  The  Church  feels  herself  bound  to 
watch  over  the  children  born  in  her  bosom,  and 
to  follow  them  with  counsel  and  instruction  and 
prayer,  from  one  year  always  on  to  another.  They 
are  required  to  attend  upon  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary.  Especially,  the  process  of  Catechet- 
ical instruction  is  enlployed,  with  constancy  and 
patience,  to  cast  if  possible  both  the  understand- 
ing and  the  heart  into  the  mould  of  evangelical 
doctrine. 

The  regular  administration  of  the  word  and 
sacraments,  forms  of  course  an  essential  part  of 
the  same  system.  The  ordinances  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, being  of  divine  institution,  are  regarded 
as  channels  of  a  power  higher  than  themselves  ; 
and  are  administered  accordingly  with  such  ear- 
nestness and  diligence  as  bespeak  a  proper  con- 
fidence in  their  virtue,  under  this  view. 

Then  again,  the  system  includes  the  wide 
range  of  the  proper  pastoral  work,  as  distinguish- 
ed from  that  of  the  pulpit.  The  faithful  minister 
is  found  preaching  the  gospel  from  house  to 
house,  as  well  as  in  a  more  public  way ;  visiting 
the  families  that  are  under  his  care,  expressly 


ISj:  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 

for  this  purpose ;  conversing  with  old  and  youngs 
on  the  great  subject  of  personal  religion  ;  ming- 
ling with  the  poor,  in  their  humble  dwellings^ 
as  well  as  with  those  in  better  circumstances; 
ministering  the  instructions  of  religion,  or  its 
consolations,  at  the  bed-side  of  the  sick  or  dying; 
and  in  one  word  laying  himself  out  in  continual 
labors  of  love  towards  all,  as  the  servant  of  all 
for  Jesus'  sake.  The  holiness  of  his  own  life 
particularly  becomes,  in  these  circumstances,  an 
agency  powerful  beyond  all  others,  to  recom- 
mend and  enforce  the  gospel  he  is  called  to 
preach.  To  all  who  know  him,  his  very  pres- 
ence carries  with  it  the  weight  of  an  impressive 
testimony  in  favor  of  the  truth. 

The  object  in  all  these  efforts,  is  not  simply 
to  bring  sinners  in  the  first  instance  to  repentance 
and  faith,  but  to  build  them  up  through  the 
kno  wledge  of  the  truth,  in  all  righteousness,  unto 
everlasting  life.  The  ministry,  with  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  sanctuary,  is  made  to  look  to 
"the  perfecting  of  the  saints/'  and  "the  edifying 
of  the  body  of  Christ,''  as  its  main  end.  Indi- 
vidual christians,  and  each  congregation  of  be- 
lievers as  a  whole,  are  to  be  established, 
strengthened,  and  carried  forward,  with  regular 
and  symmetrical  growth,  to  the  "measure  of 
the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  It  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  opposite  system,  that  it  makes 
conversion,  in  its  own  sense,  to  be  the  all  in  all 
of  the  gospel  economy,  and  the  development  of 
the  Christian  life  subsequently  a  mere  secondary 
interest ;  as  though  by  bending  all  efforts  imme- 


THE  ANXIOtJS  BENCH.  13S 


•diately  towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  firi^t 
object,  separately  taken,  the  last  might  be  safely 
left,  in  a  great  measure,  to  take  care  of  itself. 
All  this  on  the  false  principle  again,  that  the 
Church  is  to  be  enlarged  by  additions  mechani- 
cally brought  into  connection  with  it  from  with- 
out, rather  than  by  the  extension  of  its  own  or- 
ganic life  from  within.  But  in  the  gospel,  all  is 
made  to  hang  on  the  growth  of  the  Church  itself, 
in  grace  and  living  power.  This  is  the  great 
object  to  be  reached  after  in  the  ministerial  and 
pastoral  work  ;  and  it  is  only  as  this  is  in  some 
good  measure  secured,  that  this  work  can  be 
brought  to  bear  with  proper  efficiency  on  the 
world  beyond.  Where  the  Church  is  in  a  livi^ig 
and  growing  state,  "fitly  joined  together  and 
compacted  by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth, 
and  according  to  the  effectual  working  in  the 
measure  of  every  part,  making  increase  of  the 
body  unto  the  edifying  of  herself,  in  love,^'  she 
becomes  by  this  very  process  of  growth  itself, 
the  fountain  of  spiritual  life  to  the  dead  mass 
with  which  she  is  surrounded ;  taking  up  the 
element  of  humanity  as  "flesh,^^  and  by  the  as- 
similating force  of  her  own  vitality,  changing  it 
into  humanity  as  "spirit  and  life.^'  In  such  cir- 
cumstances, all  the  functions  of  the  mystical  bo- 
dy, and  that  of  the  ministry  of  course  among  the 
rest,  will  be  carried  forward  through  their  pro- 
per organs,  with  full  power  and  effect.  Where 
this  order  is  not  maintained,  there  may  be  ex- 
hibited often  in  the  work  of  the  gospel,  vast  ex^ 
citement,  and  great  show  of  strength,  and  what 


136  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


for  the  moment  shall  seem  to  be  immense  effect.;; 
but  it  will  be  a  manifestation  of  comparative 
weakness  in  fact,  by  which  only  the  surface  of 
lifers  broad  stream  has  been  tossed  into  waves, 
while  its  interior  depths  roll  quietly  forward  as 
before.  "Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by 
my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord.^'  It  is  in  the  kingdom 
of  grace,  as  in  the  kingdom  of  nature  ;  the  great- 
est, deepest,  most  comprehensive  and  lasting 
changes,  are  effected  constantly,  not  by  special, 
sudden,  vast  explosions  of  power,  but  by  process- 
es that  are  gentle,  and  silent,  and  so  minute  and 
common  as  hardly  to  attract  the  notice  of  the 
world,  which  is  so  deeply  affected  by  their  action. 
God  is  not  with  so  much  effect  in  the  whirlwind,, 
earthquake  and  tempest,  as  in  the  "still  small 
voice'^  of  the  falling  dew  or  growing  grass. 
And  so  in  the  Church,  the  common  and  the  con-* 
stant  are  of  vastly  more  account,  than  the  spe- 
cial and  transient ;  the  noiseless  and  the  unseen 
of  immensely  greater  force,  than  that  "which 
cometh  with  observation,^^  and  fills  the  world 
with  the  sound  of  its  presence. 

Such,  in  a  general  view,  is  the  action  genera- 
ted by  the  system  of  the  Catechism,  for  the  great 
purposes  of  the  gospel,  as  compared  with  that 
which  flows  legitimately  from  the  system  of  the 
Bench. 

This  system  then  gives  no  encouragement  ta 
religious  torpor  or  sloth.  That  some  take  shel- 
ter under  its  name,  who  are  opposed  to  all  that 
is  serious  or  earnest  in  religion,  while  they  af- 
fect to,  magnify  the  Catechism,  and  the  common. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH  >  137 


ministrations  of  the  sanctuary,  only  shows  that 
they  have  no  communion  in  fact  with  the  system 
in  its  true  Hfe.  They  resemble  the  Jews  of  old^ 
who  trusted  in  the  outward  temple,  while  they 
showed  themselves  false  to  all  that  made  the 
temple  sacred.  Dead  churches  and  dead  minis- 
ters, that  turn  catechetical  instruction  into  an 
empty  form,  and  make  no  account  of  inward 
living  piety,  as  a  necessary  qualification  formem- 
bership  in  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  have  no 
right  most  assuredly  to  identify  themselves  with 
the  system  of  the  Catechism ;  and  it  is  a  gross 
wrong  inflicted  upon  it  by  such  as  seek  to  bring 
it  into  discredit,  when  such  instances  of  ortho- 
dox formality  and  deadness  are  taken  to  be  pro- 
per exemplifications  of  its  character  and  power, 
as  though  it  had  a  natural  tendency  to  beget 
death  in  this  way,  rather  than  life.  It  produces 
action  and  calls  for  strength,  to  a  far  greater  ex- 
tent than  the  system  of  the  Bench.  It  is  the 
greatest  and  most  difiicult  work  in  the  world,  to 
be  a  faithful  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  spir- 
it of  this  system ;  which  might  well  constrain 
even  an  apostle  to  exclaim,  JVko  is  sufficient 
for  these  things  ?  God  forbid,  that  we  should 
countenance  for  a  moment  the  dreadful  suppo- 
sition, that  the  work  of  the  ministry  calls  for  no 
special  zeal,  no  missionary  devotion,  no  full  and 
entire  consecration  to  Christ,  no  earnest  concern 
for  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls ;  or  that  a 
church  may  be  considered  in  a  right  state,  where 
the  voice  of  prayer  is  silent,  the  tear  of  penitence 
unknown,  the  hand  of  benevolence  palsied,  the 


138  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 

'language  of  Canaan  despised,  and  the  power  of 
godliness  treated  as  an  idle  dream.  A  church 
without  life  is  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of 
God.  The  ministry  is  horribly  profaned,  when 
it  is  made  a  retreat  for  worldlings,  drones,  hire- 
lings that  care  not  for  the  flock  but  only  for  the 
fleece.  ''Instant^  in  season  and  out  of  season^^ 
is  its  proper  watchword,  the  motto  that  floats  on 
its  heaven-descended  banner;  and  it  is  under 
the  system  of  the  Catechism  precisely,  that  the 
power  of  this  is  fully  understood  and  felt,  and 
may  be  expected  to  come,  in  a  practical  way, 
broadly  into  view. 

In  this  system,  room  is  found  naturally  and 
easily,  of  course,  for  all  evangelical  interests.  It 
is  a  prodigiavis  abuse  of  terms,  when  some  of 
the  most  vital  and  prominent  of  these,  are  crowd- 
-ed  out  of  their  proper  place,  and  made  to  stand 
in  another  connection  entirely ;  when  social 
prayer^meetings,  for  instance,  and  the  various 
missionary  and  benevolent  operations  of  the 
Church,  are  divorced  in  imagination  from  the 
regular  life  of  Christianity,  and  ranked  in  the 
^ame  bad  category  with  such  tricks  of  human 
device  as  the  anxious  bench.  Family  prayer, 
and  social  prayer,  belong  as  much  as  private 
prayer  itself,  to  the  very  nature  of  the  Church. 
The  spirit  of  missions  is  identical  with  the  spirit 
of  Christianity.  For  a  church  or  a  minister  to 
oppose  prayer-meetings,  or  eff'orts  to  send  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen,  or  efforts  to  raise  up  faith- 
ful ministers,  or  to  circulate  bibles  and  tracts, 
for  the  promotion  of  genuine  godliness  at  home. 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  139 


is  to  oppose  Christ.  We  hear,  it  is  true,  of 
churches  and  ministers  that  look  upon  all  these 
things  as  fanaticism,  while  they  pretend  to  hon^ 
or  the  good  old  way  of  the  Catechism ;  but  such 
ministers  and  churches,  in  the  emphatic  language 
of  the  apostle,  "lie  and  do  not  the  truth.^'  They 
honor  neither  the  Catechism,  nor  the  bible,  nor 
Christ.  And  the  evidence  of  this  appears  inva- 
riably in  the  fact,  that  the  same  ministers  and 
churches  hate  all  serious,  earnest  godliness,  are 
perfectly  worldly  in  their  temper,  make  no  ac- 
count of  the  new  birth,  and  show  no  sense  of 
religion  whatever,  any  farther  than  as  it  may  be 
supposed  to  consist  in  a  decent  morality,  and  an 
outward  use,  to  some  extent,  of  its  standing  or- 
dinances. 

It  is  a  most  unfair  view  again  of  the  system 
of  the  Catechism,  to  think  of  it,  or  speak  of  it,  as 
unfriendly  to  all  special  and  extraordinary  forms 
-of  action,  in  the  work  of  the  gospel.  The  sys- 
tem, it  is  true,  makes  more  account  of  the  regu- 
lar, the  ordinary,  and  the  general,  than  it  does 
of  the  occasional  and  the  special ;  more  account 
of  rills,  and  the  perpetually  flowing  breezes  of 
heaven,  than  of  mountain  torrents,  water-spouts, 
and  storms.  But  it  does  not  by  any  means  pre- 
clude the  presence  of  what  is  out  of  the  usual  way, 
or  refuse  to  suit  itself  to  its  requirements  when  it 
comes.  The  extraordinary  in  this  case  however, 
is  found  to  stand  in  the  ordinary,  and  grows 
forth  from  it  without  violence,  so  as  to  bear  the 
same  character  of  natural  and  free  power.  It  is 
not  the  water-spout,  but  the  fruitful  plentiful 


14J0  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH, 


shower,  causing  the  fields  to  sing,  and  the  trees 
of  the  wood  to  clap  their  hands  for  joy.    Such  is 
the  true  conception  of  a  Revival,    For  such  spe- 
cial showers  of  grace,  it  is  the  privilege  of  the 
Church  to  hope,  and  her  duty  to  pray,  at  all 
times.    To  call  in  question  either  the  reality  or 
the  desirableness  of  them,  is  a  monstrous  scepti- 
cism, that  may  be  said  to  border  on  the  sin  of 
open  infidelity  itself.    They  are  the  natural  pro- 
duct of  the  proper  life  of  the  Church.  Where- 
ever  the  system  of  the  Catechism  is  rightly  un- 
derstood, and  faithfully  applied,  it  may  be  ex- 
pected to  generate  revivals  in  this  form  ;  though 
in  proportion  to  the  measure  of  this  faithful  use^ 
it  may  be  said,  the  ordinary  and  the  extraordi- 
nary as  here  distinguished  will  be  found  contin- 
ually coming  closer  and  closer  together,  till  in 
the  end  they  may  appear  almost  identical,  and 
the  church  shall  seem  to  bask,  as  on  the  "Delec- 
table Mountains,^'  in  the  perpetual  sun-hght  of 
heaven  itself.  This  may  be  denominated  of  a  truth, 
her  "best  state,"  and  we  may  add  her  most 
true,  proper  and  natural  state.    Churches  that 
hate  revivals,  may  be  said  emphatically  to  "love 
death."    Every  faithful  pastor  will  be  concern- 
ed, to  see  his  ministrations  crowned  with  such 
special  effusions  of  God's  Spirit ;  and  will  stand 
prepared  at  the  same  time  to  hail  with  joy  the 
first  indications  of  their  approach,  and  to  put 
forth  special  efforts  for  the  purpose  of  turning 
them  to  the  largest  account.    These  efforts  how- 
ever, will  be  in  the  general  form  of  his  ordinary 
ministrations  and  services.    If  need  be,  however^ 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCB.  141 


they  may  be  allowed  to  involve,  to  some  extent^ 
modes  of  action  entirely  new  ;  it  is  not  the  mere 
circumstance  of  novelty  of  course,  that  forms  the 
true  ground  of  objection  to  "New  Measures,'' 
technically  so  called,  but  the  spirit,  life,  princi- 
ple, of  a  certain  system  rather,  as  old  as  Chris- 
tianity itself,  which  the  measures  thus  designa- 
ted are  found  to  embody  and  represent.    A  revi- 
val, in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  so  far  as  it 
may  be  a  special  visitation,  transcending  the  or- 
dinary life  of  a  particular  church,  must  call  forth 
special  action,  on  the  part  of  both  minister  and 
people.    Meetings  for  prayer  will  naturally  be 
multiplied.    The  call  for  preaching  will  be  in- 
creased.  Protracted  meetings,  as  they  are  styled, 
may  be  required.    Visiting  from  house  to  house, 
and  direct  personal  conversation  with  sinners  on 
the  state  of  their  souls,  are  carried  forward  of 
course  with  more  diligence  and  vigor  than  be* 
fore.    Sermons  and  exhortations  may  be  expect- 
ed to  become  more  earnest  and  pungent.  A 
greater  amount  of  feeling  will  prevail  in  meet- 
ings.   It  will  become  necessary  to  have  special 
conferences  with  the  awakened.    All  this  is  a 
simple  extension  of  the  processes,  by  which  the 
ordinary  life  of  the  Church  is  to  be  maintained, 
made  necessary  by  the  special  outpouring  of 
God's  Spirit,  and  fairly  comprehended,  from 
first  to  last,  in  the  system  of  the  Catechism  as 
distinguished  from  the  system  of  the  Bench. 

It  is  true  indeed  that  the  spirit  of  the  Bench 
may  take  possession  of  these  measures,  and  in- 
fuse into  them  its  own  life  and  complexion.  It 


1:42  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH: 


i3  not  by  merely  mechanical  and  formal  distinc- 
tions, that  we  can  hold  ourselves  always  to  the- 
territory  of  one  of  these  systems  as  distinguished 
from  the  other.    What  we  are  most  concerned 
to  understand,  is  the  spirit  or  soul  by  which 
each  is  animated.    Thus  it  often  happens  that 
all  the  processes  by  which  a  revival  is  carried 
forward,  show  themselves  to  be  in  fact  pervaded 
with  the  false  spirit  of  the  Bench,  at  every  point. 
But  so  far  as  that  is  the  case,  the  revival  itself 
ceases  to  be  such,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term. 
Ijt  becomes  a  mere  mock  revival,  a  bastard  im- 
itation of  the  truth,  the  mushroom  product  of; 
feeling  and  fancy,  wrought  into- a  compost  of 
fanaticism,  from  which  it  shoots  forth,  as  it  were 
in  the  course  of  a  single  night,  without  substance 
or  strength.    In  such  case,  the  various  forms  of 
action  which  have  been^  mentioned,  may  be  so 
exhibited  as  to  breathe  throughout  the  spirit  of 
the  system  represented  by  the  Bench ;  and  there 
may  be  good  reason  for  condemning  the  whole 
as  quackery  and  wildfire.    And  no  doubt  it  is 
owing  to  the  frequent  caricaturing  to  which  re- 
vival measures  have  been  thus  subjected,  more 
than  to  any  other  cause,  that  so  strong  a  preju- 
dice is  found  to  prevail  sometimes  against  every 
thing  of  the  sort.    But  still  such  measures  as 
have  been  mentioned  are  not,  in  their  own  na- 
ture, of  the  same  complexion  with  the  Anxious 
Bench.    They  spring  from  the  very  conception 
of  a  revival ;  and  no  abuse  to  which  they  may 
happen  to  be  subjected  in  the  hands  of  revival- 
manufacturers,  .  should  be  suffered  to  bring  therrv^ 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  143* 


ifito  discredit,  under  their  legitimate  form.  They 
belong  constitutionally  to  the  system  of  the  Gat-, 
echism. 

It  was  on  this  system  emphatically  the  Re-- 
formers  of  the  16th  century  relied,  in  carrying 
forward  the  great  work,  for  which  they  were 
raised  up  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  might  be  de- 
nominated indeed  with  great  propriety,  the  sys- 
tem of  the  Reformation.  Luther,  Ztiingh,  Cal- 
vin, were  all,  in  the  fullest  sense,  men  of  the ' 
Catechism  ;  and>  it  was  in  this  character  pre-em- 
inently, they  showed  themselves  so  mighty  and 
so  successful,  in  laying  the  foundations,  and 
rearing  the  superstructure,  of  that  vast  spiritual 
work  whicb  has  since  been  associated  with  their 
names.  They  had  ample  opportunity,  if  they 
had  seen  proper  to  use  it,  for  going  to  work  by 
the  other  method.  The  age  was  ripe  for  agita- 
tion and  commotion,  in  the  name  of  rehgion, 
t&  any  extent,  Luther  could  have  created  a  re- 
vival in  this  form,  that  would  have  made  all 
Europe  rock  with  whirlwind  excitement.  But 
he  left  such  work  to  the  Anabaptists ;  or  rather 
his  giant  strength  was  successfully  opposed  to  it, 
ia»  their  hands.  The  Anabaptists  were  the  men 
of  the  Bench,  in  that  day.  Luther  belonged 
wholly  to  another  school. 

I  cannot  perhaps  close  the  subject  better,  than 
by  exhibiting  a  most  interesting  and  instructive 
exemplification  of  the  true  character  and  force 
of  the  system  now  explained  and  recommended, 
as  furnished  from  the  history  of  the  century  fol- 
laMTing  the  Reformation  in  England,  by  the  eel- 


144  THE  AKXIOtJS  BENCH. 


^brated  Richard  Baxter  and  his  parish  of  ii^id- 
derminster.  Switzerland,  Germany,  Holland^ 
and  most  of  all,  Scotland,  present  in  their  histo*  ^ 
ry  innumerable  attestations  to  the  same  point.  W 
But  it  is  well  to  fix  our  attention  for  a  moment, 
on  a  single  case,  peculiarly  striking  in  its  char- 
acter, and  more  than  commonly  prominent 
through  the  world-wide  reputation  of  the  pastor, 

Baxter,  it  is  well  known,  lived  in  the  most 
stormy  period  of  English  history,  during  which) 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  both  Church  and 
State  might  be  said  to  rock  perpetually,  as  with 
the  earthquake  throes  of  revolution.  He  was 
intimately  connected,  at  the  same  time,  with 
pubhc  affairs  and  public  men,  and  deeply  con^  . 
cerned  in  the  political  changes  which  were  going 
forward.  He  was  moreover  a  scholar  and  a 
writer,  with  such  attachment  to  his  books,  and 
such  a  zeal  in  the  Use  of  his  pen,  as  have  char^^ 
acterised  but  few  ministers  in  any  age.  Add  to 
all  this,  he  labored  under  such  a  complication  of 
bodily  infirmities  and  ailments,  that  one  can 
hardly  help  wondering  how  he  Was  able  to  do 
anything  at  all.  It  is  distressing  only  to  think 
over  the  catalogue  of  his  disagreeable  maladies, 
as  they  are  presented  in  his  life. 

Kidderminster,  when  he  began  to  preach  there, 
was  a  most  neglected,  unpromising  charge,  like 
many  others  in  England  at  that  time.  His  pre- 
decessor had  been  a  common  tippler  and  drunk^ 
ard,  without  any  fitness  whatever  for  his  work. 
The  congregation  was  large,  but  composed  for 
the  most  part  of  ignorant,  careless  rough  man* 


THE  ANXIOTJS  BENCH. 


14? 


the  Catechism,  and  then  examined  them  about 
the  sense  ;  and  lastly  urged  them  with  all  possi- 
ble engaging  reason  and  vehemency,  to  answer- 
able affection  and  practice.  I  spent  about  an 
hour  with  each  family,  and  admitted  no  others 
to  be  present ;  lest  bashfulness  should  make  it 
burthensome,  or  any  should  talk  of  the  weak- 
ness of  others.  All  the  afternoons  on  Mondays 
and  Tuesdays,  I'spent  in  this  way.'' 

Such  was  the  general  method  of  Baxter's 
ministry.  It  was  constant,  regular,  earnest; 
not  marked  with  noise  and  parade  ;  but  like  the 
common  processes  of  nature,  silent  rather,  deep, 
and  full  of  invisible  power.  He  was  a  man  of 
prayer,  and  his  whole  soul  was  in  his  work. 
Thus  his  ministrations  were  clothed  with  uncom- 
mon interest  and  force.  Prejudice  and  opposi-.^? 
tion  gradually  gave  way.  The  pastor  became 
the  centre  of  all  hearts.  In  the  end,  the  change 
was  complete.  We  hear  of  no  sudden  general 
excitement,  no  pains  taken  to  secure  anything 
of  that  sort ;  no  revival^  in  the -ordinary  accepta- 
tion of  the  term,  as  denoting  an  occasional  and 
transient  awakening  ill  the  history  of  a  church. 
But  the  life  of  rehgion  in  the  place  was  con- 
stantly progressive,  and  the  power  of  a  quiet  re- 
vival might  be  said  to  reign  at  Kidderminster  all 
the  time.  The  result  was  wonderful.  ^^The 
congregation,"  he  says,  ^^was  usually  full,  so 
that  we  were  fain  to  i)uild  about  five  galleries 
after  my  coming  thither  ;  the  church  itself  being 
very  capacious,  and  the  most  commodious  and 
convenient  that  ever  I  was  in.    Our  private 


148  THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH. 


meetings  also,  were  full.  On  the  Lord's  days 
there  was  no  disorder  to  be  seen  in  the  streets ; 
but  you  might  hear  a  hundred  families  singing 
psalms  and  repeating  sermons,  as  you  passed 
through  them.  In  a  word,  when  I  came  thith- 
er first,  there  was  about  one  family  in  a  street 
that  worshipped  God  and  called  on  his  name  ; 
and  when  I  came  away,  there  were  some  streets 
where  there  was  not  one  poor  family  in  the  side 
that  did  not  so  ;  and  that  did  not  by  professing 
serious  godliness,  give  us  hopes  of  their  sinceri- 
ty.  And  in  those  families  which  were  the 
worst,  being  inns  and  ale-houses,  usually  some 
persons  in  each  house  did  seem  to  be  religious.^^ 
The  church  numbered  six  hundred  communi- 
cants ;  ^^of  whom  there  were  not  twelve,'^  says 
Baxter,  "that  I  had  not  good  hopes  of  as  to  their 
sincerity.'' 

Most  happy  would  it  be  for  our  Reformed  Ger- 
man Church,  if  all  her  pastors  could  be  engaged 
to  lay  to  heart  the  weight  of  this  great  example. 
Let  no  one  think  within  himself,  that  his  circum- 
stances make  it  impossible  for  him  to  work  and 
prevail,  in  the  same  style.  It  would  be  hard  to 
find  among  all  our  charges,  a  field  so  rough  and 
unpromising  as  was  the  parish  of  Kidderminster, 
when  first  subjected  to  the  labors  of  Baxter. 
And  it  is  only  the  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  Baxter 
that  are  needed,  to  transform  the  worst  among 
them,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  info  the  im- 
age, at  least  in  part,  of  what  Kidderminster  was, 
when  his  ministry  in  the  place  was  brought  to  a 
close.    He  has  himself  drawn  a  most  stirring 


THE  ANXIOUS  BENCH.  14^ 


picture  of  what  the  pastor  should  be,  in  his  small 
work  entitled,  ^^Gildas  Salvianus  :  The  Re- 
formed Pastor  ;  showing  the  nature  of  the  pas- 
toral work^  especially  in  private  instructioii 
andcatechising.^^  I considerit  apriyilege toclose 
the  present  work,  with  a  pointed  reference  to  this 
most  excellent  publication.  If  any  wish  to  see 
the  System  of  the  Catechism  explained  and 
enforced,  as  Avith  a  pencil  dipped  in  heavenly 
light,  let  them  read  Baxter's  "Gildas  Salvianus.'^ 
One  sentence  of  his  own  with  regard  to  it  should 
never  be  forgotten.  "If  God  would  but  reform 
the  ministry,  and  set  them  on  their  duties  zeal- 
ously and  faithfully,  the  people  would  certainly 
be  reformed  :  all  churches  either  rise  or  fall,  as 
the  ministry  doth  rise  or  fall  ;  not  in  riches  and 
worldly  grandeuf,  but  in  knowledge,  zeal,  and 
ability  for  the  work.'' 

"The  Reformed  Pastor^^  says  the  distinguish- 
ed Dr.  Doddridge,  "is  a  most  extraordinary  per- 
formance,  and  should  be  read  by  every  young 
minister  before  he  takes  a  people  under  his  stated 
care  ;  and,  I  think,  the  practical  part  of  it  re- 
viewed CA^ery  three  or  four  years.  For  nothing 
would  have  a  greater  tendency  to  awaken  the 
spirit  of  a  minister  to  that  zeal  in  his  work,  for 
want  of  which,  many  good  men  are  but  shadows 
of  what,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  they  might  be, 
if  the  maxims  and  measures  laid  down  in  this 
incomparable  treatise  were  strenuously  pur- 
sued." 


4 


ERftATtJMv— In  tile  note  oti  page  34  and  19th  line  ^rorjt 
'ilie  bottom*  read  Burchard  instead  of  Blanchard, 


i 


